Sweet Clover

Melilotus officinalis

King's-clover Melilot Sweet Clover Sweet Lucerne Yellow Melilot Parts used Uses Habitat and cultivation Constituents

Sweet clover - a biennial herb, growing to 5 feet, with many branches. Each leaf consists of three leaflets with toothed margins. Light yellow flowers of sweet clover grow in towering spikes (June-September) and are about 14 inch across. Sweet clover has a sweet vanilla smell that is more intense when the plant is dried.

The nectar of sweet clover seems to have an intoxicating effect on bees, drawing them to the blossoms in swirling clouds. Equally attractive to horses and cattle, sweet clover is one of their favorite fodders. In the 1920's, farmers began to store sweet clover for fodder. When cattle feeding on the hay began hemorrhaging, it was discovered that the clover they had eaten had been stored before it was completely dry, and so had fermented. Further investigation showed that coumarin, a substance in sweet clover that gives it its vanilla taste, becomes an anticoagulant, dicoumarol, when fermented.

Medicinally, sweet clover's popularity goes back many centuries. The ancient Egyptians made a tea from sweet clover to treat intestinal worms and earache. The Greek physician Galen prescribed using a similar infusion in a poultice for inflammations and swollen joints. In Anglo-Saxon England, sweet clover earned a reputation for preserving eyesight. Sweet clover was also made into a salve for wounds and sores, a purpose it still serves in England, where some pharmacists sell "melilot plasters." A pleasant vanilla-flavored tea made from the blossoms and leaves of sweet clover can be drunk for its own sake or to relieve chronic flatulence.

PARTS USED

Aerial parts.

USES

As with horse chestnut, long-term use of sweet clover - internally or externally -can help varicose veins and hemorrhoids. Sweet clover also helps reduce the risk of phlebitis and thrombosis. Sweet clover is mildly sedative and antispasmodic, and is given for insomnia (especially in children) and anxiety. Sweet clover has been used to treat gas and indigestion, bronchitis, problems associated with menopause, and rheumatic pains.

Because sweet clover is a mild astringent, its chief use through the ages has been as a poultice for inflammations and wounds of tender parts of the body such as the eyes. Commercially, sweet clover is now used mainly as fodder.

HABITAT AND CULTIVATION

Sweet clover is a plant native to Europe, North Africa, and temperate regions of Asia, and is naturalized in North America. Sweet clover grows in dry or open areas, and is harvested in late spring.

CONSTITUENTS

Sweet clover contains flavonoids, coumarins (including hydroxycoumarin and hydrocoumarin), resin, tannins, and volatile oil. If allowed to spoil, sweet clover produces dicoumarol, a powerful anticoagulant.