Melilotus officinalis

Yellow sweetclover

Family: Fabaceae · Type: biennial · Not Native

Yellow sweetclover is a naturalized biennial found throughout California in open fields and disturbed sites at elevations below 2,300 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces bright yellow flowers in slender, elongated clusters 3 to 8 centimeters long. Growing with sturdy stems 50 to 200 centimeters tall that range from nearly smooth to slightly hairy, it develops an upright, branching form. Its compound leaves have elliptic to obovate leaflets 10 to 25 millimeters long with slightly toothed edges. The small fruits are plump, 3 to 5 millimeters long with irregular cross-ridged surfaces.

Habitat: Open fields, disturbed sites, cultivated

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: < 2300 m

Bioregions: CA

California counties: Alpine, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, San Diego, Inyo, Fresno, Riverside, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Lake, Amador, Yolo, Modoc, Colusa, Plumas, Trinity, Butte, Sierra, Tehama, Glenn, Nevada, Lassen, Mono, Napa, Ventura, Mendocino, Humboldt, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, El Dorado, Sacramento, Kern, Monterey, Mariposa

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.