Melilotus officinalis Lam:great favourites of the bees.The King's Clover and Its Fragrance.

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Edible Uses and Medicinal Uses:Melilotus officinalis.

Yellow Sweetclover Extract INCI Name Melilotus Officinalis Extract CAS 84082-81-5 EINECS ELINCS No 282-028-5 Melilot extract Yellow melilot clover extract Melilotus officinalis Lam photo picture image The root of yellow sweetclover was consumed as a food by the Kalmuks. Young shoots can be cooked and used like asparagus. Young leaves can be eaten in salads and the leaves and seedpods cooked as a vegetable. They have also been used as a flavoring. Only fresh leaves should be used since the dried leaves can be toxic. This is possibly due to the presence of coumarin, the substance that gives some dried plants the smell of new mown hay. The flowers, raw or cooked, are edible. The flowers and seeds can be used as a flavoring. The flowers also give an aromatic quality to some tisanes.

 Medicinal Uses:

 Yellow Sweet Clover (Melilotus officinalis), also known as Yellow Melilot, is a legume sometimes grown for forage. Its characteristic sweet odor, intensified by drying, is derived from coumarin.It has been used in herbal medicine. Yellow sweet clover is a major source of nectar for an apiary.

 Yellow Sweet Clover started to be used long years before and its important role got high attention in natural supplemental industry today,generally, it shows good properties and characters of following field:treatments of wounds, inflammation, swollen joints, stomach ulcers,Swollen,twisted veins and haemorrhoids,Phlebitis and thrombosis treatment and act as an anticoagulant,Antispasmodic,Antibacterial;Astringent; Discutient,Emollient;strongly laxative; Narcotic; Poultice,good for treatment of Bowel complaints and infantile diarrhoea,Improving blood circulation,for varicose veins and hemorrhoids,etc.

 Yellow Sweet Clover extract a natural tonic of the venous system natural tonic of the venous system natural tonic of the venous system natural tonic of the venous system - -- - Herbal relief for the symptoms of Herbal relief for the symptoms of Herbal relief for the symptoms of Herbal relief for the symptoms of chronic circulation pathol chronic circulation pathol chronic circulation pathol chronic circulation pathologies. ogies. ogies. ogies. Melilotus, or Yellow Sweet Clover, is a perennial herb taken internally to help relieve the symptoms associated with chronic pathologies of the circulation such as night cramps, itching and swelling in the legs. It is also utilized for vein inflammation, blood clots, hemorrhoids and congestion of the lymph system. Used externally it may also assist the healing of bruises.

 Swollen,twisted veins and haemorrhoids: Melilot, used either externally or internally, can help treat swollen and twisted veins and haemorrhoids though it requires a long-term treatment for the effect to be realised.

 Phlebitis and thrombosis treatment and anticoagulant: Use of the plant also helps to reduce the risk of phlebitis and thrombosis. Melilot contains coumarins and, as the plant dries or spoils, these become converted to dicoumarol, a powerful anticoagulant. Thus the plant should be used with some caution, it should not be prescribed to patients with a history of poor blood clotting or who are taking warfarin medication.

 Antispasmodic: The flowering plant is antispasmodic, aromatic, and has agents that relieves and removes gas from the digestive system, that induces urination, that softens and soothes the skin when applied locally, and agents that induces the removal (coughing up) of mucous secretions from the lungs. It is mildly sedative and has agents that help in healing wounds, fresh cuts, etc., usually when used as a poultice. A tea has been used in the treatment of sleeplessness, nervous tension, neuralgia, palpitations, swollen and twisted veins, painful congestive menstruation, in the prevention of thrombosis, flatulence and intestinal disorders.

 External Uses: Externally, it is used to treat eye inflammations, rheumatic pains, swollen joints, severe bruising, boils and erysipelas, whilst a decoction is added to the bath-water. The flowering plant is harvested in the summer and can be dried for later use. A distilled water obtained from the flowering tops is an effective treatment for conjunctivitis.

 Disclaimer: Antibacterial; Anticoagulant; Astringent; Emollient; Laxative; Narcotic; Poultice.

 Bowel complaints and infantile diarrhoea: The seed is made into a gruel and used in the treatment of bowel complaints and infantile diarrhoea.

 Discutient, emollient, astringent, strongly laxative: The plant is discutient, emollient, astringent, strongly laxative and narcotic. It is used externally as a poultice or plaster on swellings.

 Anticoagulant: The plant contains coumarin, which is an anticoagulant.

 Bactericide: The plant also contains dicumarol, which is a broad spectrum bactericide.

 Improving blood circulation,for varicose veins and hemorrhoids: Sweet clover leaves and flowering branches have been used for improving blood circulation, and for varicose veins and hemorrhoids.

 Medicinal Actions:

 The herb has aromatic, emollient and carminative properties. It was formerly much esteemed inmedicine as an emollient and digestive and is recommended by Gerard for many complaints, the juice for clearing the eyesight, and, boiled with lard and other ingredients, as an application to wens and ulcers, and mixed with wine, 'it mitigateth the paine of the eares and taketh away the paine of the head.'

 Culpepper tells us that the head is to be washed with the distilled herb for loss of senses and apoplexy, and that boiled in wine, it is good for inflammation of the eye or other parts of the body.

 Other Uses:

 The leaves contain coumarin and they release the pleasant smell of newly mown hay when they are drying. The leaves can be dried and used as an insect repellent, especially in order to repel moths from clothing. They can be put in pillows, mattresses etc.

 Poorly dried or fermented leaves produce a substance called dicoumarol. This is a potent anti-coagulant which is extremely poisonous in excess, it prevents the blood from coagulating and so it is possible to bleed to death from very small wounds. Dicoumarol is used in rat poisons. The plant can be used as a green manure, enriching the soil with nitrogen as well a providing organic matter.

 Repellent.The leaves repel insects. They have been placed in beds to repel bedbugs.

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Reference:

citations1.Melilotus officinalis Lam:great favourites of the bees.The King's Clover and Its Fragrance.

last edit date:3rd,July.2009.