Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Melilotus indicus
Common name
Hexham scent, King Island melilot, Hexham scented melilot, Sweet melilot
Family
Fabaceae
Where found
Woodland, grassy areas, disturbed sites, and along streams. Mainly coastal including the Sydney area away from the coast. Canberra and nearby. Sporadic elsewhere.
Notes
Introduced annual herb to 1 m tall, fragrant. Stems hairless to sparsely hairy. Leaves alternating up the stems, compound, with 3 leaflets, each 0.5-3 cm long, 2-15 mm wide, hairless or slightly hairy, margins toothed, tips blunt or notched, stipules more or less lance head shaped, mostly 5–10 mm long, dilated and toothed towards the base. Flowers have an unpleasant scent like vanilla. Flowers yellow, 2-3 mm long, pea shaped, with 5 petals, 2 joined together to form the keel,, in cylindrical clusters of 10-60 flowers. Flowers mainly Spring.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Melilotus~indicus (accessed 24 January, 2021)
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a free mobile application:
