Index / Search / Melilotus indicus
§1 Plant
Melilotus indicus (L.) All.
vernacular annual yellow sweetclover — species · Fabaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Annual
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Fabaceae Lindl.
- Genus
- Melilotus
§2a
Native status, by region
- CAN Canada Introduced
- GL Greenland Introduced
- HI Hawaii Introduced
- L48 Lower 48 States Introduced
- PB Pacific Basin (except Hawaii) Introduced
§2b
County-level range
· 140 counties across 15 states/territories§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Medium
- Shade
- High
- Moisture use
- Medium
- Fire
- Medium
- Salinity
- Low
- Anaerobic
- None
- CaCO₃
- Medium
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- 20 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 130 min.
- Precipitation
- 16–55 in/yr
- pH range
- 6.1–8.2
- Root depth
- 14 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- medium
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Single Crown
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Mature height
- 2.5 ft
- Foliage texture
- Fine
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Moderate
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- Yellow
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- Medium
- Toxicity
- Moderate
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Early Spring
- Seed abundance
- High
- Seed begins
- Spring
- Seed ends
- Spring
- Spread rate
- Rapid
- Stratify
- No
- Seeds / lb
- 300,320
- Propagation
- seed
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- No Known Source
- Nursery stock
- No
- Browse palatability
- Medium
- Graze palatability
- Medium
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- Medium
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 140 counties across 15 states/territories.
Alabama view state ↗ 6 I ▾
Arizona view state ↗ 9 I ▾
Arkansas view state ↗ 3 I ▾
Florida view state ↗ 25 I ▾
- Alachua 12001
- Bay 12005
- Brevard 12009
- Citrus 12017
- Duval 12031
- Escambia 12033
- Franklin 12037
- Jackson 12063
- Jefferson 12065
- Lake 12069
- Leon 12073
- Levy 12075
- Madison 12079
- Manatee 12081
- Marion 12083
- Miami-Dade 12086
- Orange 12095
- Pinellas 12103
- Santa Rosa 12113
- St. Johns 12109
- Sumter 12119
- Taylor 12123
- Volusia 12127
- Wakulla 12129
- Walton 12131
Georgia view state ↗ 7 I ▾
Kentucky view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Louisiana view state ↗ 60 I ▾
- Acadia 22001
- Allen 22003
- Ascension 22005
- Assumption 22007
- Avoyelles 22009
- Bienville 22013
- Bossier 22015
- Caddo 22017
- Calcasieu 22019
- Caldwell 22021
- Cameron 22023
- Catahoula 22025
- Claiborne 22027
- Concordia 22029
- De Soto 22031
- East Baton Rouge 22033
- East Feliciana 22037
- Evangeline 22039
- Franklin 22041
- Grant 22043
- Iberia 22045
- Iberville 22047
- Jackson 22049
- Jefferson 22051
- Jefferson Davis 22053
- Lafayette 22055
- Lafourche 22057
- LaSalle 22059
- Lincoln 22061
- Livingston 22063
- Madison 22065
- Morehouse 22067
- Natchitoches 22069
- Orleans 22071
- Ouachita 22073
- Plaquemines 22075
- Pointe Coupee 22077
- Rapides 22079
- Red River 22081
- Richland 22083
- Sabine 22085
- St. Bernard 22087
- St. Charles 22089
- St. James 22093
- St. John the Baptist 22095
- St. Landry 22097
- St. Martin 22099
- St. Mary 22101
- St. Tammany 22103
- Tangipahoa 22105
- Tensas 22107
- Terrebonne 22109
- Union 22111
- Vernon 22115
- Washington 22117
- Webster 22119
- West Baton Rouge 22121
- West Carroll 22123
- West Feliciana 22125
- Winn 22127
Maine view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Massachusetts view state ↗ 3 I ▾
Mississippi view state ↗ 11 I ▾
New Jersey view state ↗ 1 I ▾
New York view state ↗ 1 I ▾
North Carolina view state ↗ 1 I ▾
South Carolina view state ↗ 10 I ▾
Virginia view state ↗ 1 I ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/MEIN2 ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/2971016 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T07:25:30Z