Erect annual or biennial plant grown extensively especially for hay and soil improvement

Usage examples of melilotus.

It is the more remarkable, because we shall meet with an analogous case in the leaves of the allied genus Melilotus, in which the terminal leaflet rotates at night so as to present one edge to the zenith and at the same time bends to one side, so that its upper surface comes into contact with that of one of the two now vertical lateral leaflets.

Leguminous genera, for instance, those of Hedysarum, Mimosa, Melilotus, etc.

The terminal leaflet of Melilotus likewise rotates, by which movement one of its lateral edges is directed upwards, and at the same time it moves either to the left or to the right, until its upper surface comes into contact with that of the lateral leaflet on the same side, which has likewise rotated on its own axis.

Melilotus rotates and moves to one side until it meets the lateral leaflet on the same side.

Preliminary sketch of the sleep or nyctitropic movements of leaves--Presence of pulvini--The lessening of radiation the final cause of nyctitropic movements--Manner of trying experiments on leaves of Oxalis, Arachis, Cassia, Melilotus, Lotus and Marsilea and on the cotyledons of Mimosa--Concluding remarks on radiation from leaves--Small differences in the conditions make a great difference in the result Description of the nyctitropic position and movements of the cotyledons of various plants--List of species--Concluding remarks--Independence of the nyctitropic movements of the leaves and cotyledons of the same species--Reasons for believing that the movements have been acquired for a special purpose.

Trigonella Cretica resembles a Melilotus in its sleep, which will be immediately described.

But it does not twist itself like the corresponding first simple leaf of Melilotus.