Fabaceae, the pea, bean or legume family.
Description:
Plant:
Tall branching plant, to 5', with clover-like leaves and elongated clusters
of small, yellow flowers. Annual.
Flowers:
Yellow, pea-like, about 1/4", in elongated clusters (racemes), to about 4".
Leaves:
Alternate, compound, clover-like, with three narrowly elliptical, toothed
leaflets, 1/2"-1".
Fruit:
Small, wrinkled, ovoid pod.
Blooming:
May-September
Habitat:
Roadsides, fields, waste areas.
Comments:
A European import, very similar to white sweet clover (M. albus/em>),
except for the color of the flowers.
Like the white variety, widely planted to fix nitrogen in soils,
and as a source of nectar. Also like the white variety,
the foliage has a pleasant new-mown-hay fragrance, due to the
the compound coumarin, certain derivatives of which are
potent anticoagulants (e.g. warfarin).
Coumarin has been used in perfumery and as a flavoring agent, though it
is currently banned for most ingestible applications.
Where to find it:
Common in the fields and near the pond.