Description

Taxonomy

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family	Genus
Plantae	Magnoliophyta	Magnoliopsida	Fabales	Fabaceae	Melilotus

Synonyms

Invasion History

Chesapeake Bay Status

First Record	Population	Range	Introduction	Residency	Source Region	Native Region	Vectors
1830	Established	Stable	Introduced	Boundary Resident	Europe	Eurasia	Shipping(Dry Ballast), Agriculture(Agricultural Weed)

History of Spread

Melilotus alba (White Sweet-Clover) is native to Eurasia from northern Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, and east to the Orient (Turkington et al. 1978). It was an early agricultural introduction to North America (Pursh 1814). Famers regard it variously as both 'a despised weed', and as a useful fodder, cover, and honey crop (Turkington et al. 1978). It is now found across North America, and was listed as a 'terrestrial plant occurring in tidal wetlands' of San Francisco Bay by Cohen and Carlton (1995). Bigelow (1814) reported it as occurring on the edges of salt marshes in South Boston, while Pursh (1814) gave its habitat as 'gravelly banks of rivers'.

In the Chesapeake Bay region, M. alba was listed for Washington DC by Brereton (1830) and for Baltimore ('banks of streams' Aikin 1837). It is now widespread throughout the Bay watershed. Tidal wetland records include:

Patuxent River- Melilotus alba was found in brackish marshes at Benedict and Holland Cliffs MD (Anderson et al. 1968).

Upper Bay- Melilotus alba occurs in disturbed marshes and strandlines in Shady Side and Rose Haven, both in Anne Arundel Counties (Fofonoff, personal observations).

History References- Aikin 1837; Anderson et al. 1968; Brereton 1830; Bigelow 1814; Cohen and Carlton 1995; Pursh 1814; Turkington et al. 1978

Invasion Comments

Ecology

Environmental Tolerances

	For Survival		For Reproduction
	Minimum	Maximum	Minimum	Maximum
Temperature (ºC)
Salinity (‰)	0.0	13.0
Oxygen
pH
	Salinity Range	fresh-meso

Age and Growth

	Male	Female
Minimum Adult Size (mm)
Typical Adult Size (mm)
Maximum Adult Size (mm)
Maximum Longevity (yrs)
Typical Longevity (yrs

Reproduction

	Start	Peak	End
Reproductive Season
Typical Number of Young Per Reproductive Event
Sexuality Mode(s)
Mode(s) of Asexual Reproduction
Fertilization Type(s)
More than One Reproduction Event per Year
Reproductive Startegy
Egg/Seed Form

Impacts

Economic Impacts in Chesapeake Bay

Melilotus alba (White Sweet-Clover) is a common weed of sandy disturbed soils in the Chesapeake Bay watershed (Brown and Brown and Brown 1984; Shreve et al. 1910), but only an occasional colonizer of tidal marshes (Anderson et al. 1968). This legume, while a troublesome weed, has benefits in erosion prevention, nitrogen fixation, and as a haycrop, and a food-crop for honeybees (Turkington et al. 1978). However, it is only an occasional colonizer of tidal marshes, and has no reported economic impacts on native biota in Chesapeake Bay proper.

References- Anderson et al. 1968; Bigelow 1814; Turkington et al. 1978

Economic Impacts Outside of Chesapeake Bay

Melilotus alba (White Sweet-Clover) is a common weed of sandy disturbed soils in North America (Turkington et al. 1978), but only an occasional colonizer of tidal marshes and shores (Bigelow 1814; Anderson et al. 1968). This legume, while a troublesome weed, has benefits in erosion prevention, nitrogen fixation, and as a haycrop, and a food-crop for honeybees (Turkington et al. 1978). Its impacts on tidal wetlands are unknown.

References- Anderson et al. 1968; Bigelow 1814; Turkington et al. 1978

Ecological Impacts on Chesapeake Native Species

Melilotus alba (White Sweet-Clover) is a common weed of sandy disturbed soils in the Chesapeake Bay watershed (Brown and Brown 1984; Shreve et al. 1910), but only an occasional colonizer of tidal marshes (Anderson et al. 1968). It has no reported impacts on native biota in Chesapeake Bay proper. However, it was ranked as 'moderately invasive' on the VA invasive plant list (Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation 1999).

References- Anderson et al. 1968; Brown and Brown 1984; Shreve et al. 1910; Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation 1999

Ecological Impacts on Other Chesapeake Non-Native Species

Melilotus alba (White Sweet-Clover) is a common weed of sandy disturbed soils in the Chesapeake Bay watershed (Brown and Brown 1984; Shreve et al. 1910), but only an occasional colonizer of tidal marshes (Anderson et al. 1968). It is a likely competitor with other colonizing weeds in sandy supratidal habitats, but has no reported impacts on exotic biota in Chesapeake Bay proper.

References- Anderson et al. 1968; Brown and Brown 1984; Shreve et al. 1910

References

Aikin, W. E. A. (1837) Catalogue of phenogamous plants and ferns, native or naturalized, growing in the vicinity of Baltimore, Maryland., Transactions of the Maryland Academy of Sciences and Literature 1: 55-91

Anderson, Richard D.; Brown, Russell, G.; Rappleye, Robert D. (1968) Water quality and plant distribution along the upper Patuxent River, Maryland, Chesapeake Science 9: 145-156

Bigelow, Jacob (1814) Florula Bostoniensis., In: (Eds.) . , Boston. Pp.

Brereton, J. A. (1830) Prodromus of the Flora Columbiana, , Washington, D.C.. Pp.

Brown, Melvin L.; Brown, Russell G. (1984) Herbaceous Plants of Maryland, , College Park. Pp.

Cohen, Andrew N.; Carlton, James T. (1995) Nonindigenous aquatic species in a United States estuary: a case study of the biological invasions of the San Francisco Bay and Delta, , Washington DC, Silver Spring MD.. Pp.

Fernald, Merritt L. (1950) Gray's Manual of Botany, In: (Eds.) . , New York. Pp.

Gleason, Henry A.; Cronquist, Arthur (1991) Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada, In: (Eds.) . , Bronx, New York. Pp.

Gray, Asa (1848) A manual of botany of the northern United States., In: (Eds.) . , Boston. Pp.

Harvill, A. M.; Bradley, Ted R.; Stevens, Charles E.; Wieboldt, Thomas F.; Ware, Donna M. E.; Ogle, Douglas W.; Ramsey, Gwynn W.; Fleming, Gary P. (1992) Atlas of the Virginia Flora, , Burkeville, VA. Pp.

1997-2024 USDA PLANTS Database.. Onine databse

Pursh, Frederick (1814) Flora Americae Septentrionalis or, a Systematic Arrangement and Description of the Plants of North America, , Hirschburg. Pp.

Shreve, Forrest M.; Chrysler, M. A.; Blodgett, Frederck H.; Besley, F. W. (1910) The Plant Life of Maryland, , Baltmore. Pp.

Turkington, Roy A.; Cavers, Paul B.; Rempel, Erika (1978) Biology of Canadian Weeds 29. Melilotus alba Desr. and M. officinalis (L.) Lam., Canadian Journal of Plant Science 58: 523-537

1999 Invasive Alien Plant Species of Virginia. http://www.state.va.us/~dcr/dnh/invlist.htm