GOLDEN MELILOT

TALL MELILOT

Melilotus altissimus

(formerly: Trigonella altissima)
Pea Family [Fabaceae]  

month8jun month8june month8jul month8july month8Aug

status
statusZarchaeophyte
morph
morph8zygo
petals
petalsZ5
type
typeZspiked
stem
stem8round
stem
stem8ribbed
ribbed

30th June 2008, River Lune, Near Caton. Photo: © RWD
A sub-plot of Golden Melilot. Although both Golden Melilot (aka Tall Melilot) and Ribbed Melilot can both reach 1.5m high, Golden Melilot (aka Tall Melilot) is often contrarily shorter!!


19th July 2007, Walney Island, (northern part), Cumbria. Photo: © RWD


2nd Aug 2005, Appley Bridge, Leeds & Liverpool Canal. Photo: © RWD


19th July 2007, Walney Island, (northern part), Cumbria. Photo: © RWD
Black Coombe is in the distance.


19th July 2007, Walney Island, (northern part), Cumbria. Photo: © RWD
The flowers of Golden Melilot are usually a slightly darker (golden) yellow than the usually paler yellow of Ribbed Melilot. The flowers are only slightly larger (5-7mm long) than the very similar 4-7mm long of Ribbed Melilot. Also the wings are a similar length to those of the inner pair of petals the keel (whereas on Ribbed Melilot the keel is slightly shorter). The only certain way to differentiate the two is to look at the fruits (see photos and ID below).


11th July 2007, Appley Bridge, Leeds & Liverpool Canal. Photo: © RWD
Leaves trefoil, ovate, centre one on longer stalk. Shallow forwardly-directed leaf teeth usually occur after mid-way.


21st Sept 2013, sand-pit, Marshside, Southport, Sefton Coast Photo: © RWD


21st Sept 2013, sand-pit, Marshside, Southport, Sefton Coast Photo: © RWD
The seed pods are about 7mm long, are blackish when ripe )as opposed to brownish when ripe for those of Ribbed Melilot) and are pointed at the end (probably the remains of the style). [Your Author got his thumb in the photo and from measuring his thumb at home and from the same angle got the scale at which the images are presented, from which he measured and calculated that the fruits were about 7mm long, the longest pods of any Melilot]

Note the stem is ribbed, and the flower stalks peel off at the termination of a rib (see the foreground fruit at centre-right). The ridges on the sides of the fruits are rather randomly arranged, but the depressed craters that those ridges or reticulations form are randomly oriented. [The ridges on the fruits of Ribbed Melilot align across the fruit in several thin parallel rows but the ridges are not continuous but rather broken in the same places twice- thus creating three narrow valleys in a line, and there are several lines of valleys - thus distinctly different]



21st Sept 2013, sand-pit, Marshside, Southport, Sefton Coast Photo: © RWD
The yellow thing inside open pods must be the seed


Golden (aka Tall) Melilot is easily confused with : Ribbed (aka Common) Melilot.

Various sources claim:

  • That contrarily to the name, Ribbed (aka Common) Melilot is slightly taller than Golden (aka Tall) Melilot and yet, equally perversely, they both grow to 1.5m.
  • That Ribbed Melilot has lemony yellow flowers whereas Golden Melilot has golden yellow flowers.
  • That Ribbed Melilot has the keel shorter than the standard and wings, whereas the two are equal length in the case of Golden Melilot.
  • That Ribbed Melilot is less compact and with lighter coloured stems than Golden Melilot.
  • That Ribbed Melilot has a less dense flower spike than does Golden Melilot.
  • And finally that the only way to tell them apart is by whether the pods are black and hairy (in the case of Golden Melilot) or hairless and olive-green in the case of Ribbed Melilot!

Strikingly, no sources claim that Ribbed Melilot is ribbed; all Melilots seem to be (in places) ribbed! It is obvious from the names alone that confusion has reigned supreme here.

Given such confusion, there is no guarantee that your author has correctly differentiated between the two commoner yellow Melilots in the photos shown here.

Uniquely identifiable characteristics: there is no mistaking that it is a Melilot. But which one... The BSBI distribution map of both suggest that it can only be Tall Melilot, since Ribbed Melilot has not been seen on Walney Island since the new century began in 2000 AD.

But it is definitely not: Furrowed Melilot (Melilotus sulcatus) which hasn't been seen in the UK since the 1990's nor is it Round-fruited Melilot (Melilotus infestus) which hasn't been seen in the UK for even longer.

Identification:
The only reliable method of differentiating between Golden Melilot and the otherwise very similar Ribbed Melilot (Melilotus officinalis) is the size, colour and pattern of lumps of the fruits. The fruits of Tall Melilot (aka Golden Melilot) are 5-7mm long, black when ripe and either reticulated or transversely-ridged. Whereas those of Ribbed Melilot are shorter at only 3-5mm long, brown when ripe and just transversely ridged, but the ridges are not continuous, but rather in 3 rows. Gather a few to examine and measure.


  Melilotus altissimus  ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ Fabaceae  

Distribution
family8pea family8Fabaceae family8Leguminosae
 BSBI maps
genus8melilotus
Melilotus
(Melilots)

GOLDEN MELILOT

TALL MELILOT

Melilotus altissimus

(formerly: Trigonella altissima)
Pea Family [Fabaceae]  

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