WHITE SWEET CLOVER

White sweet clover, which can be found in meadows and fields throughout the Los Angeles area, has the pleasant smell of new-mown hay that reminds one of a more rural life style.

Its nectar has an intoxicating effect on bees, which gather honey from the tiny pea-shaped blossoms. The flowers have been used to flavor cheese and tobacco. A vanilla-flavored tea is made from the blossoms and leaves.

Originally from Eurasia, sweet clover has long since spread throughout North America.

White sweet clover ( Melilotus Alba ) and its relative, yellow sweet clover, are grown as cover crops, honey plants and cattle fodder in pastures. Both are common in the United States, but the white variety is most frequently found in the West.

A tall, widely branched, leafy plant, sweet clover grows wild in most open places below 2,000 feet. It blooms from May through late fall and early winter and reaches a height of up to 10 feet.

The flowers bloom in profuse spikes up to 5 inches long. The blossoms grow in slender, one-sided groups.

Individually, the flowers are only a quarter of an inch long. The thick, oblong leaves are finely toothed, appear in threes and are 1/2 to 1 1/4 inches long. They are rounded at their tops.

Melilotus comes from the Greek words for “honey” and leguminous plant. Alba means white.