Medium to tall hairless plant to 1.5 metres, stems erect and branched. Leaves oblong, sharply toothed, stipules slender, untoothed. Flowers yellow, 5 to 7 mm long, in many-flowered racemes, the wings equalling the keel. Pod oval, 5 to 6 mm, hairy and net veined, black when ripe with a persistent style.

Ribbed Melilot (Melilotus officinalis)

The keel (lowest petal) is about equal in length to the wings (side petals) and standard (top petal).  Fruits black and hairy when ripe

A photo of the plant in its habitat, plus a side on view of flowers, or fruits.

Damp habitats, woodland margins, roadsides.

June to August.

Biennial or short lived perennial.

Widespread and quite common in England south of the Tyne, scarcer in the south west of England, Wales and Scotland.

Fairly frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 93 of the 617 tetrads.