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plus sweet clover
plus sweet clover botanical plate
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plus sweet clover

Melilotus officinalis

Honey bees avidly visit yellow sweet clover for its abundant, high-sugar nectar, supporting major honey flows with yields up to 200 pounds per colony during peak bloom from June to September. It also supplies nutritious pollen collected in yellow loads. As a biennial legume, it fixes nitrogen but can become invasive in grasslands, shading out natives and requiring management in beekeeping landscapes.

Nectarhigh
Pollenhigh
BloomJune–September
USDA zones2-9
TypePerennial
Sunfull
NativeEurasia — naturalized in North America
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