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Herbal Glossary | Medicinal Glossary | Herbal Preparations | Ayervedic Formulas | Chinese Formulas Sweet Clover
Scientific Names
Common Names
Parts Usually UsedThe flowering plant Description of Plant(s) and CultureYellow melilot is a biennial plant; the slender, branched, hollow stems, from 1 1/2 to 5 feet high, bear pinnate leaves (clover-like) with 3 obovate or oblanceolate leaflets, which are finely toothed and blunt-tipped. Blooming from June to November, the fragrant, light golden-yellow pea-like flowers grow in axillary racemes. Later, long crooked pods appear, they contain flat brown seeds. The plant is fragrant when crushed. Another variety: White melilot (M. alba), a similar but taller,
white-flowered species, has the same medicinal uses. Biennial, grows
1-9 feet tall, leaves clover-like; leaflets elongate, slightly toothed.
Small white, pea-like flowers in long, tapering spikes, blooms April
to October. Like yellow melilot, it is a very common plant in fields
and waste places over most of North America and in Europe and Asia. Where FoundGrows along roadsides and in waste places in Eurasia and throughout
North America, except in the far north. Medicinal PropertiesAntispasmodic, diuretic, emollient, expectorant, vulnerary Biochemical InformationCoumarins in both of these clovers may decrease blood clotting. Legends, Myths and StoriesThe name melilot is derived from the words mel, or honey, and lotus; meaning honey lotus. Yellow melilot repels moths. Europeans sew the dried plant into an herb pillow. This herb is abundant in the Yangtse region of China. The Chinese use yellow melilot medicinally, use it in cosmetics, and burn it as an incense. Moldy hay causes uncontrollable bleeding in cattle due to coumarins.
Science has developed compounds like warfarin from such coumarins
to prevent blood clotting in rodents. UsesUsed externally in a salve or as a poultice for swellings, boils,
and similar skin problems, old sores, wounds, swellings,
milk knots, arthritis, rheumatism.
The decoction used as a wash for wounds, aching muscles, convulsions, varicose veins, anti-inflammatory, eyewash. Internally
it is used for colic, stomach
problems, gas, diarrhea, painful menstruation,
smoked for asthma, and headaches and chronic bronchitis.
Used as a tea, (take 1 cup 3 times a day), this herb is helpful where
there is weakness of tone of the penis and partial
impotence. A concentrated preparation made from the plant is sometimes
prescribed by doctors as an anti-coagulant to break up blood clots.
Components of this herb may lower
blood pressure but care should be taken, it also lowers blood
clotting. Formulas or DosagesInfusion: steep 1 tsp. herb in 1 cup boiling water. Take 1 to 1 1/2 cups per day. Poultice: put about 1/2 oz. dried plant into a small cloth
bag. Boil briefly in water; let steep a few minutes; then apply as
hot as can be WarningDo not use with warfarin or other blood-thinning drugs, or with any blood-clotting problem. See the doctor. Coumarins in both of these clovers may decrease blood clotting. Large doses can cause vomiting and other symptoms of poisoning. Do not use without medical supervision.
Bibliography
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Hay
flowers
The Complete Medicinal Herbal
, by Penelope Ody, Dorling Kindersley, Inc, 232 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, First American Edition, copyright 1993
, by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1988, fifth printing, 1994Copyright © 1996-2010 Lynn DeVries, all rights reserved.