Melilot

shirl · #1 (**permalink**) 23-07-2008, 04:03 PM

Is this a tall melilot? Growing on the banks of our lane and also in places round a limestone quarry.

Cheers

Shirl

djackso · #2 (**permalink**) 23-07-2008, 05:01 PM

I think so, Melilotus altissimus. do you know how tall it was?

shirl · #3 (**permalink**) 23-07-2008, 05:27 PM

I would say at least 3ft tall possibly taller, odd though there is just one place on the lane where it is growing and that is right outside a yard which has huge HGVs and lots of limestone chippings.

Shirl

djackso · #4 (**permalink**) 23-07-2008, 05:45 PM

There is an easy way to tell the difference between the two yellow-flowered melilots:
yellow-flowered tall melilot (Melilotus altissima) is not easy to distinguish from the common sort without a close examination of the proportions of the parts of the flower or the colour of the ripe seed pods (black and downy, compared with brown and hairless in the common species).

I presume if you wait until the seed pods appear, they should give you a definitive answer