Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-094
White Sweet Clover
Melilotus albus
White Sweet Clover is an annual, white-flowered nitrogen fixer bred to do well on heavy alkaline clay and prairie soils, sending down a taproot deep enough to break up compacted ground. Its spring flowers make it one of the biggest honey sources on the continent, and grazed or chopped fresh it is safe, nutritious forage - but never cut it for hay or silage: the same coumarin that makes it useful turns into a blood-thinning toxin once the cured or stored material molds. Left ungrazed past flowering, it seeds itself into a dense stand, so it earns its keep and needs managing in the same season.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 3
- Soil
- Sand · Silt · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Dry · Well-Drained · Moderate
Vertical layer
Herbaceous- Soil pH
- 6.5–8
- Plant type
- Biennial
- Mature height
- 3.9 ft
- Mature spread
- Not yet recorded
- Plant spacing
- 9–12 in
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
Similar plants
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Adzuki Bean
Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & H.Ohashi
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African Eggplant
Solanum aethiopicum
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African Rice
Oryza glaberrima
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Herbaceous
Agrimony
Agrimonia eupatoria
Agrimony is a slender herbaceous perennial of sunny, disturbed ground across Europe and western Asia, grown mainly for the tannin-rich leaves…
Herbaceous · USDA 5–9
Alfalfa
Medicago sativa
Alfalfa is a deep-rooted perennial legume grown worldwide as one of the richest forage crops available, its taproot running six metres or…
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Aloe Vera
Aloe vera
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Herbaceous · USDA 10–12
The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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