Melilotus albus Medik., Fabaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: bai hua cao mu xi

English: Bokhara clover, honey clover, white melilot, white sweet clover

French: mélilot blanc

Spanish: meliloto blanco

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Annual or short-lived perennial herbs; stems erect, 3-15 (-30) dm long.  Leaflets elliptic to obovate, 10-30 (-40) mm long, 5-20 mm wide, margins serrate, stipules lanceolate, not widened at base, margins not scarious.  Racemes 4-15 cm long; corolla white, 4-5 mm long, standard and wings equal in length, longer than the keel; style 1.7-2.3 mm long.  Pods pale to dark brown at maturity, 3-4 (-5) mm long, strongly reticulate-veined.  Seeds usually 1"  (Wagner et al., 1999; pp. 686-687).

"Erect annual or biennial up to 2.5 m high; stems almost glabrous or sparsely to moderately hairy in upper parts. Leaves almost glabrous but sparsely hairy when young; petioles c. 5-25 mm long; leaflets oblong- elliptic to obovate, obtuse to acute, mucronate, obtuse to cuneate at base, serrate, c. 10-30 mm long; stipules linear-lanceolate, entire. Racemes lax and slender, up to 25 cm long at fruiting; flowers numerous. Peduncles > petioles. Calyx ± glabrous to sparsely hairy; calyx teeth = or < tube, narrowly triangular. Corolla white, 4-5 mm long; wings ± = keel. Pod glabrous, reticulately veined, 3-5 mm long, 1-2-seeded; seeds light brown, 2-3 mm long"  (Webb et al., 1988; p. 667).

Description from Flora of China online.

Habitat/ecology:  "Riparian habitats, grassland, disturbed places.  This herb grows on a wide range of soils and forms dense stands where invasive.  It colonizes disturbed sites and may become dominant, outcompeting native grasses and forbs.  It is nitrogen-fixing and increases soil fertility levels, thereby changing the floristic composition of invaded areas.  Burning facilitates the establishment of this plant in grassland communities"  (Weber, 2003; p. 261).

In Hawai‘i, "apparently uncommon in disturbed sites, 5-1,340 m"  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 687).

Propagation:  Seed.  "Seeds are dispersed by water and may remain viable in the soil for more than 20 years"  (Weber, 2003; p. 261).

Native range:  "Native to Europe, widely introduced as a fodder plant" (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 687).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 686-687)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R. (1995) (p. 20) East Maui. Voucher cited: Hobdy 2830 (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Oppenheimer, Hank L. (2004) (p. 12) West Maui. Voucher cited: Oppenheimer H110203 (BISH, PTBG)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Moloka‘i Island	introduced invasive	Shannon, Robynn K./Wagner, Warren L. (1996) (p. 14) Voucher cited: Degener 11095 (US)
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced invasive	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 86) Voucher cited: MacKee 10124 Spontané
United States (other Pacific offshore islands) Midway Atoll	Midway Atoll	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 686-687) Voucher cited: Herbst & Takeuchi 6363 (BISH)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	Australia (continental)	introduced invasive	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Chile (continental) Chile	Chile (Republic of)		Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. (1979) (p. 232)
China China	China (People's Republic of)	native	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2011) "Moist soil in fields, roadsides, wastelands".
Colombia Colombia	Colombia (Republic of)		Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. (1979) (p. 232)
Japan Japan	Japan (country)	introduced	Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro (2004) (p. 185)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 667) "Dry waste places and cultivated land".

Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Mascarene Islands Mascarene Islands (Mauritius, La Reunion, Rodrigues)	Mascarene Islands	introduced invasive	Weber, Ewald (2003) (p. 261)
Mauritius Mautitius Islands (Mauritius and Rodrigues)	Mauritius Island		Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. (1979) (p. 232)

Control: 

Physical:  "Scattered plants can be hand pulled, most of the root must be removed.  Cutting close to the ground is effective if done before flowering occurs.  Prescribed burning is used to control this plant in North American prairies".

Chemical:  "Effective herbicides are 2,4-D amine, dicamba, or MCPA"  (Weber, 2003; p. 261).

Additional information:
Information from the Global Invasive Species Database.

Additional online information about Melilotus albus is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Melilotus albus as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Melilotus albus may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. 1979. A geographical atlas of world weeds. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 391 pp.

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro. 2004. Invasive alien species in Japan: the status quo and the new regulation for prevention of their adverse effects. Global Environmental Research 8(2)/2004: 171-191.

Oppenheimer, Hank L. 2004. New Hawaiian plant records for 2003. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2003. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 79:8-20.

Shannon, Robynn K./Wagner, Warren L. 1996. New records of Hawaiian flowering plants primarily from the United States National Herbarium. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Miller, Scott, E., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 1995. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 46:13-15.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R. 1995. Contributions to the Flora of Hawai‘i. IV. New Records and name changes. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Miller, Scott, E., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 1994. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 42:13-27.

Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. 1999. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawaii. Revised edition. Bernice P. Bishop Museum special publication. University of Hawai‘i Press/Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 1919 pp. (two volumes).

Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. 1988. Flora of New Zealand, Volume IV: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch. 1365 pp.

Weber, Ewald. 2003. Invasive plants of the World. CABI Publishing, CAB International, Wallingford, UK. 548 pp.

Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong. 2011. Flora of China (online resource).