AusTraits

Melilotus officinalis

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Fabaceae

Taxonomy: Melilotus officinalis (L.) Lam.

Synonyms: 2 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Trifolium officinale L. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Trifolium officinalis L. (nomenclatural synonym)

Distribution (APC): WA (naturalised), SA (naturalised), Qld (doubtfully naturalised), NSW (naturalised), Vic (naturalised), Tas (naturalised)

Profiles: APC, Flora of Australia, ALA, iNaturalist, NSW Flora, SA eFlora, Vic Flora, Florabase, ATRP

Traits

Top source datasets: NHNSW_2014_2 (3), NHNSW_2022 (4), NHNSW_2023 (15), SAH_2022 (4), SAH_2023 (11), WAH_2022_2 (4), WAH_2023_2 (2), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 18 traits from 46 records in 9 datasets.

Traits by category (click to expand). For categorical traits, the values are listed. For numerical traits, the mean and range are shown.

flower morphology
  • flower_colour (categorical): yellow_orange (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 3.75 mm (3-5 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
  • fruit_type (categorical): legume_indehiscent (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
  • fruit_colour (categorical): brown (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_length (numerical): 20 mm (10-30 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 13 mm (4-22 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): lanceolate (2); obovate (2); ovate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_margin (categorical): toothed (1); toothed_serrate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): compound (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
life history
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): herb (4) [sources: NHNSW_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • life_history (categorical): annual (4); biennial (4) [sources: NHNSW_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (4) [sources: NHNSW_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • stem_growth_habit (categorical): decumbent (3); erect (3) [sources: NHNSW_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2]
  • flowering_time (categorical): nnnnnnnnyyyy (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
whole plant morphology
  • plant_height (numerical): 1.08 m (0.5-2 m) [sources: NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023; WAH_2023_2]

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
NHNSW_20231115N. H. of New South Wales. The Plant Information Network System of The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Version 2.0.. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
SAH_2023911S. H. of South Australia. eFlora of SA, Electronic Flora of South Australia. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/.
NHNSW_202244N. H. of New South Wales. The Plant Information Network System of The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Version 2.0.. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
SAH_202244S. H. of South Australia. eFlora of SA, Electronic Flora of South Australia. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/.
WAH_2022_244Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
NHNSW_2014_233Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
WAH_2023_212Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Wenk_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.