FAMILY: Fabaceae (Leguminosae)
SYNONYMS: Common melilot, yellow melilot, white melilot, corn melilot, melilot trefoil, sweet clover, plaster clover, sweet lucerne, wild laburnum, king’s clover, melilotin (oleoresin).
GENERAL DESCRIPTION: A bushy perennial herb up to 1 metre high with smooth erect stems, trifoliate oval leaves and small sweet-scented white or yellow flowers. The scent of the flowers becomes stronger on drying.
DISTRIBUTION: Native to Europe and Asia Minor. Other similar species are found in Asia, the USA and Africa. The flowers are mainly cultivated in England, France, Germany and the USSR.
OTHER SPECIES: There are several similar species such as M. arvensis, the oil of which is also used in perfumery and flavouring work.
HERBAL/FOLK TRADITION: The leaves and shoots are used on the Continent for conditions which include sleeplessness, thrombosis, nervous tension, varicose veins, intestinal disorders, headache, earache and indigestion. In the form of an ointment or plaster, it is used externally for inflamed or swollen joints, abdominal and rheumatic pain, also bruises, cuts and skin eruptions.
ACTIONS: Anti-inflammatory, antirheumatic, antispasmodic, astringent, emollient, expectorant, digestive, insecticidal (against moth), sedative.
EXTRACTION: A concrete (usually called a resinoid or oleoresin) by solvent extraction from the dry flowers.
CHARACTERISTICS: A viscous dark green liquid with a rich, sweet-herbaceous ‘new mown hay’ scent.
PRINCIPAL CONSTITUENTS: Mainly coumarins – melilotic acid and orthocoumaric acid. Safety data in 1953 in some countries including the USA, coumarin was banned from use in flavourings due to toxicity levels. Some coumarins are also known to be phototoxic.
AROMATHERAPY/HOME: USE None.
OTHER USES: The oleoresin is used in high-class perfumery work. Extensively used for flavouring tobacco in countries without the coumarin ban.
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