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Melilotus indicus; photograph (c) Arnim Littek, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Arnim Littek, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-17

Melilotus indicus (L.) All.

Small melilot; Annual yellow sweetclover; Sour-clover; California lucerne

Fabaceae · Baleares, Corse +52

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Melilotus indicus, photograph (c) Arnim Littek, some rights reserved (CC BY)Melilotus indicus, photograph (c) Arnim Littek, some rights reserved (CC BY)Melilotus indicus, photograph (c) Arnim Littek, some rights reserved (CC BY)Melilotus indicus, photograph (c) Arnim Littek, some rights reserved (CC BY)Melilotus indicus, photograph (c) Arnim Littek, some rights reserved (CC BY)Melilotus indicus, photograph (c) Arnim Littek, some rights reserved (CC BY) 90 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-0.8°C
Record low -4.1 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
28°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
661mm
11 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
12–46DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet winters: the rain comes September to February and April, read as a winter growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Melilotus indicus, sometimes incorrectly written Melilotus indica, is a yellow-flowered herb in the Fabaceae family. It is native to northern Africa, Europe and Asia, but naturalized throughout much of the rest of the world's temperate climate zones. It is a commonly occurring weed in disturbed habitats, with historical uses for forage and medicine.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Melilotus indicus", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (471 mm of 656 mm) falls in September to February and April, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 12.4 °C against a yearly mean of 15.3 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: March to August and October.

Rain

656 mm in the median year at the habitat, 471 mm of it September to February and April. Wettest month October at 81 mm, driest month July at 16 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 444 mm to 1,138 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 661 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 656 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 12 to 46 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 6, the highest 90th-percentile month 50).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -0.8 °C, the absolute minimum -4.1 °C, 266 frost nights in 44 years, 6.0 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 42.6 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 4.3 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 0.1 °C to 9.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 28.0 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -0.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 57 to 61% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -269 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Melilotus indicus through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 28 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 4.3 °C; 656 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°50°frost42.6° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-4.1° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 12–46RH 57–61%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 352 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C11 / 7–1612 / 8–1715 / 11–2017 / 14–2420 / 17–2725 / 20–3128 / 22–3328 / 22–3324 / 20–3020 / 16–2715 / 10–2212 / 7–18
Night °C4 / 0–105 / 0–107 / 3–129 / 5–1412 / 9–1716 / 12–2018 / 14–2319 / 14–2316 / 12–2213 / 8–198 / 4–146 / 1–11
Rain mm65 / 33–14856 / 29–11849 / 29–9459 / 26–9155 / 20–9334 / 9–7816 / 2–7731 / 4–7960 / 17–9581 / 29–12175 / 43–12875 / 37–142
DLI14 / 7–1920 / 12–2529 / 20–3336 / 29–4142 / 34–4745 / 36–5046 / 35–5039 / 31–4531 / 24–3622 / 14–2915 / 9–2212 / 6–17
RH %61 / 57–6659 / 56–6458 / 54–6358 / 53–6258 / 52–6357 / 49–6357 / 47–6358 / 49–6459 / 51–6360 / 55–6461 / 56–6661 / 57–67
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 352 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (361 records in those cells; 20 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1040:3509 (37.975, -4.525). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -4.1 °C, 1st-percentile night -0.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 42.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 352 distinct grid cells holding 361 of the 381 in-range records (20 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1040:3509 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 38.00_-4.375, lapse-corrected -269 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 186 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBaleares, Corse, France, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Sicilia, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Western Sahara, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Afghanistan, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Sinai, Turkey, Gulf States, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Tibet, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Myanmar, Thailand · introduced: Great Britain, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Baltic States, Azores, Canary Is., Madeira, Mauritania, Niger, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Socotra, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Cape Provinces, Namibia, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Northern Provinces, St.Helena, Mauritius, Réunion, Ogasawara-shoto, Sri Lanka, Jawa, Norfolk Is., New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, Chatham Is., New Zealand North, New Zealand South, New Caledonia, Easter Is., Hawaii, Greenland, Nova Scotia, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Mexican Pacific Is., Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Costa Rica, Honduras, Bahamas, Bermuda, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil Southeast, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina South, Argentina Northwest, Chile Central, Chile North, Chile South, Uruguay · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker42.639, 2.808 · in the densest population, 152 records (33% of those in range)
Kew's description“annual” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 464 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 361 of them in the land cells it reads, of 381 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 204 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 312 km away. 1166 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 83 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 464 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Melilotus indicus, photograph 1did not loadMelilotus indicus, photograph 2did not loadMelilotus indicus, photograph 3did not loadMelilotus indicus, photograph 4did not loadMelilotus indicus, photograph 5did not loadMelilotus indicus, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Arnim Littek, some rights reserved (CC BY) (6).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Tamarix gallica Tamarix gallica Tamarisk Photo: CC BY, Patrick HackerCalendula arvensis Calendula arvensis Field marigold Photo: CC BY, zebedeugalinhaCynoglossum creticum Cynoglossum creticum Blue Hound's tongue Photo: CC BY-SA, Grzegorz GrzejszczakLotus rectus Lotus rectus Greater badassi Photo: CC BY-SA, Martínez LuisOloptum miliaceum Oloptum miliaceum Smilo-grass Photo: CC BY, Sarah DillionSalvia rosmarinus Salvia rosmarinus Rosemary Photo: CC BY, zebedeugalinha

Other Melilotus 6 in the reference

Melilotus albus Melilotus albus White melilot Photo: CC BY-SA, LukeMelilotus altissimus Melilotus altissimus Tall melilot Photo: CC BY, guywallbanksMelilotus dentatus Melilotus dentatus Small-flowered melilot Photo: CC0, author not statedMelilotus italicus Melilotus italicus Italian Melilot Photo: CC0, author not statedMelilotus neapolitanus Melilotus neapolitanus European sweetclover Photo: CC BY, Flora_DUMOMelilotus officinalis Melilotus officinalis Ribbed melilot Photo: CC0, author not stated

Names & registers

Also known as Medicago parviflora; Melilotus berardii; Melilotus bonplandii; Melilotus boumettii; Melilotus brachystachyus and 28 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
(L.) All.
Native to
Baleares, Corse, France +51
Wild records
464 in range · 204 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 78 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (53 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 6 at a herbarium, 19 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 38.00_-4.375, lapse-corrected -269 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 219 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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