Melilotus dentatus(Waldst. & Kit.) Desf.

WFO wfo-0000185374 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 3 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 3 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Melilotus dentatus, photographed by Yurii Basov
fig. a Yurii Basov, CC BY 4.0 / 2020-08-05 / obs. 88367724
Melilotus dentatus, photographed by Patrick Hacker
fig. b Patrick Hacker, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 158686801
Melilotus dentatus, photographed by Patrick Hacker
fig. c Patrick Hacker, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 158686761
Melilotus dentatus, photographed by Yurii Basov
fig. d Yurii Basov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 88367738
Melilotus dentatus, photographed by Yurii Basov
fig. e Yurii Basov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 88367754
Melilotus dentatus, photographed by Yurii Basov
fig. f Yurii Basov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 198602867
Melilotus dentatus, photographed by Yurii Basov
fig. g Yurii Basov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 198602845
Melilotus dentatus, photographed by Patrick Hacker
fig. h Patrick Hacker, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 158686711

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 34 botanical countries

Regions where Melilotus dentatus is native: Altay, Buryatiya, China North-Central, Chita, Inner Mongolia, Irkutsk, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Krasnoyarsk, Manchuria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Turkmenistan, Tuva, Uzbekistan, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Germany, Hungary, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Sweden, Ukraine AltayBuryatiyaChina North-CentralChitaInner MongoliaIrkutskKazakhstanKirgizstanKrasnoyarskManchuriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusTadzhikistanTranscaucasusTurkmenistanTuvaUzbekistanWest SiberiaXinjiangAustriaBelarusBulgariaCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaGermanyHungaryNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSouth European RussiaSwedenUkraine
Native distribution of Melilotus dentatus, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Buryatiya BRY
China North-Central CHN
Chita CTA
Inner Mongolia CHI
Irkutsk IRK
Kazakhstan KAZ
Kirgizstan KGZ
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Tadzhikistan TZK
Transcaucasus TCS
Turkmenistan TKM
Tuva TVA
Uzbekistan UZB
West Siberia WSB
Xinjiang CHX
Austria AUT EUROPE
Belarus BLR
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Germany GER
Hungary HUN
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Sweden SWE
Ukraine UKR

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 78 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -21.6 °C -9.7 °C -3.1 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 23.1 °C 25.9 °C 27.2 °C
Annual rainfall 318 mm 521 mm 613 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 23 mm 86 mm 111 mm

It is found where winters are severely cold. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 78 research-grade observations of Melilotus dentatus that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 21 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Medicago dentata (Waldst. & Kit.) E.H.L.Krause
  • Medicago sibirica (Poir.) Ser.
  • Melilotus brachystachya Bunge
  • Melilotus brachystachys Bunge
  • Melilotus dentata (Waldst. & Kit.) Pers.
  • Melilotus dentatus subsp. dentatus
  • Melilotus dentatus subsp. sibiricus (O.E.Schulz) Suvorov
  • Melilotus dentatus var. sibiricus O.E.Schulz
  • Melilotus kochianus Willd.
  • Melilotus linearifolius Nocca ex Steud.
  • Melilotus linearis Cav. ex Pers.
  • Melilotus officinalis var. dentatus (Waldst. & Kit.) Wahlenb.
  • Melilotus olympicus Trautv.
  • Melilotus procumbens Ser.
  • Melilotus sibiricus Poir.
  • Sertula brachystachys (Bunge) Kuntze
  • Sertula dentata (Waldst. & Kit.) Kuntze
  • Trifolium dentatum Waldst. & Kit.
  • Trifolium kochianum (Willd.) Hayne
  • Trifolium melilotus-dentatus Schreb.
  • Trigonella dentata (Waldst. & Kit.) Coulot & Rabaute

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.