Furrowed melilot

Melilotus sulcatus, the furrowed melilot or Mediterranean sweetclover, is an annual herb in the legume family Fabaceae, native to the Mediterranean basin and western Asia and naturalised in scattered temperate regions. Plants reach 20 to 60 centimetres in height, with erect to ascending stems that are often furrowed or grooved longitudinally (hence the epithet sulcatus). Leaves are alternate and trifoliolate, the leaflets obovate to oblanceolate with finely toothed margins, accompanied by small lanceolate stipules. The inflorescence is a slender axillary raceme bearing numerous small yellow papilionaceous flowers, each about 2 to 3 millimetres long. Fruits are small, ovoid, glabrous to wrinkled pods containing one or two seeds. Like other melilots the plant has a sweet hay-like fragrance when dried, due to coumarin compounds. Flowering occurs in spring through early summer in its native range.