5.2 Perennials

28
vanilla 16 ; excellent 35 .
Notes: reasons for its decline in popularity as an agricultu
to persist in fields due to its hard seed coat; susceptibility
weevil.
Sweet clover often thrives where few other plant
quarries and waste land. However, some highway depart
planting sweet clover on road verges for ground cover
opinion: the volunteer plants have a tendency to become a
especially where seed crops are grown, or the plants are c
for use along road verges (e.g. parts of B.C.).
In its earlier and more popular era, sweet clover w
naturalizing to increase bee forage. In 1938, in B.C., it was
liming before sowing along a roadside would help to esta
for bee forage 73 .
Useful for soils too wet or too dry for either Me
pratense (red clover); does best in well-drained clay or c
logged or acid soil; grows up to 2 250 m 17 .
None of the sweet clovers makes a particularly attra
may be suitable for some roadsides, banks or waste land
eradicate obnoxious weeds by crowding them out. See also
Melilotus alba Desr.
white sweet clover, bee clover, white melilot, melilot blanc
bienn. hardiness depends on cv. mid Jul-late Aug
Value for honey: HP5/6 16 ; N sugar concentration 33% o
soi1 67 ; N sugar concentration of M. alba was 35% and
clover) was 52% on the same day and same situation 79 (s
much less of a difference) 17 ; despite its lower sugar concen
reputation among beekeepers than M. officinalis 6I ; this is p
the overall volume of N secreted by the white is probably
yellow 16,67
N flow starts about two weeks after the yellow (o
alfalfa flow) and is a little shorter than the flow from the y
for up to 7 weeks, but each flower blooms only for about 3-
Value for pollen: little P gathered; honeybees observed to
of P from this than from M. officinalis, and the loads are alw
yellowish-green to green or brown 17.
Honey: may have a greenish tinge; classed as white to wa
one week of removing from the hive and forms a fine m
cinnamon and is mild to peppery 16 .