Melilot is a grassy biennial of the legume family. It is found on all continents, but is most common in Eurasia. The plant is popularly known under the names "sweet clover", "burkun", "sleepy grass", "hare chill", "soap grass", "stable". Although it is impossible to call a clover exclusively decorative, it brings great benefit to the site and the person, and is also an excellent honey plant. Due to this, it is worth at least once every few years to sow it on the site.
Botanical Description
Melilotus is a biennial or juvenile herbaceous crop up to 1-2 m high. A strong, branched rhizome can penetrate the soil to a depth of 150 cm. Nodules with nitrogen-fixing bacteria form on underground processes. Thin, lightly branched stems are covered with smooth green skin. They form a tall but transparent aerial vegetation.
On the shoots are small ovoid or lanceolate leaves with wavy or serrated edges. They bend slightly along the central vein. The foliage is painted in a bluish-green hue. On each petiole 3 separate leaves grow. Small stipules are located at the junction with the stem. In the middle leaf petiole is slightly longer than the lateral.
At the top of the stem and its lateral processes, long but narrow racemose inflorescences are formed. Small corollas on short flexible pedicels in shape resemble a moth 2-7 cm long. Flowers are painted in yellow or white. The flowering period starts from June to August and lasts about a month. By mid-September, the fruits ripen — small, elongated beans with a few tan seeds that look like beans.
Types of sweet clover
The clover genus cannot be called diverse. It includes a total of 22 species of plants.
Melilotus officinalis (yellow). A biennial plant with a stem rhizome forms an airy, branched shoot 100-150 cm high. It is covered with small triple lanceolate leaves. Shares grow on thin petioles and have serrated edges. Inflorescences in the form of narrow loose brushes bloom on thin shoots. Small moth nimbuses are yellow. Petals surround 10 long stamens, 9 of them with fused threads. Depending on the climate, flowering occurs in June-September.
Melilot is white. A biennial or annual with a branched stem grows 60-170 cm in height. The shoot is covered with rare triple leaves. The top is decorated with a narrow brush with small white flowers. They bloom in the summer. In total, flowering lasts about a month, but a single flower lasts up to 2 days. The plant produces a large amount of nectar and is the best honey plant in the genus.
Melilot Indian. A fairly compact herbaceous annual grows 15-50 cm in height. Its stems are covered with small, obovate leaflets of dark green or bluish color. Short loose brushes consist of yellow flowers 2-3 mm long. They bloom in the first half of summer.
Sweet clover plow. Annual grasses grow slightly pubescent, slightly branched shoots 15-100 cm long. The lower part of the stem gradually becomes reddish. Leaflets closer to the ground are larger. Together with the petiole, their length reaches 6.5 cm. The color of the foliage is bright green. In summer, loose shoots with yellow moth flowers 5-7 mm long open on the shoots.
Seed cultivation
Due to the short life cycle, clover is propagated by seed. They are sown immediately in open ground before winter or in March-April at a temperature of 0 ... + 4 ° C. Before sowing, the seeds are soaked in warm water for 2-4 hours, so that the skin softens. For better germination, scarification is also carried out.
For sowing, prepare wells with a depth of 1.5-2 cm at a distance of 50-60 cm. Seeds are scattered manually or using agricultural machinery. Seed consumption rate: 200-250 g / ar. Shoots appear in 10-15 days. When the seedlings grow some real leaves, they weed, increasing the distance between plants to 30 cm. In the first year, flowering occurs near the end of summer, so the fruits do not ripen. It is not so plentiful.
Care Features
In care grass clover is not whimsical. The decisive role is played by the right choice of place. The plant needs a lot of light. It tolerates strong heat and frost equally well, therefore it does not need shelter.
The soil for planting can be heavy clay, sandy or rocky. Even on saline ground, clover will grow. However, in acidic and flooded lands he cannot survive. It also adapts well to limestones. Before planting, the earth is fertilized with a small amount of organic matter. More fertilizer is not needed.
Plants are resistant to drought, so they usually do not need watering. Only with a prolonged absence of precipitation, when the soil is very cracked, it is possible to water the plantings by sprinkling.
In autumn, the entire above-ground part dries and dies. A well-developed, long rhizome remains underground. Already in early spring, new sprouts appear from the buds of renewal. If there is too much water from melted snow, the shoots can rot.
When sweet clover is used as siderate, fodder and medicinal crops, it is cut at the stage of budding. To increase the green mass, it is recommended to trim the roots with a special cultivator. Then it will develop better and be more saturated with nutrients.
Economic use
Melilot brings great benefits to the site. It is an excellent green fertilizer. The rotted biomass during decomposition provides the soil with a large number of nitrogen compounds and other nutrients. At the same time, a strong and long root penetrates into the depths and well loosens even downed clods and dense clay.
The earth is becoming more loose and fertile. On loamy sand and light soils, rhizomes, on the contrary, have a binding effect and prevent erosion. If you do not cut the shoots, they will hold the snow. An additional advantage of sweet clover is its ability to combat root rot, wireworms and nematodes. Also, its smell repels rodents.
Fresh grass and hay obtained from cut clover contains a lot of nutrients. The plant can easily compete with alfalfa or clover. Unfortunately, as they grow in the stems, a large number of coumarins accumulate, and they also become very stiff. Therefore, the preparation of feed is carried out at the stage of budding. Melilot is recommended to combine with other plants. It increases the amount of milk and body fat in animals.
Culture plays an important role as a honey plant. White clover is most effective. During the flowering period, bees collect nectar in an amount of 1.5-2 c / ha.
Melilot honey has a whitish, amber color and intense aroma. It is used not only as a tasty supplement, but also for treatment. The use of the product increases lactation in nursing women. It is also taken as an antispasmodic, diuretic, anti-inflammatory agent. It alleviates pain, relieves hypertension, and respiratory tract spasms. It is also used externally, applying compresses to the chest with mastitis.
Medicinal properties
Sweet clover is rich in coumarins, essential oils, resins, mucus, tannins. It is actively used in traditional medicine. For medicinal purposes, flowers and the upper part of shoots with leaves are used. They are cut and dried, then rubbed with their hands, and hard stems are removed. The resulting raw materials are stored in paper envelopes for up to 2 years. It has a strong dense aroma and a bitter aftertaste.
Ointments, decoctions and alcoholic infusions are made from dry grass. Decoctions and tinctures are taken orally for the treatment of insomnia, headaches, hypertension, bronchitis, flatulence and cystitis. Compresses from decoctions are used for mastitis, radiculitis, sprains, hemorrhoids, inflammatory processes and wounds on the skin. Flower ointment helps relieve joint pain.
Clover treatment has contraindications. First of all, without exception, everyone should not increase the dosage, since coumarins can have a negative effect on health. As a result, dizziness, insomnia, and headache appear. Melilot is also contraindicated in case of internal bleeding and liver diseases.
