Melilotus officinalis (L.) Lam. - syn.Trifolium officinale L. - Fabaceae \\
common melilot, ribbed melilot, yellow sweet clover, **Echter Steinklee** 

Biennial herb, 0.30-1m high, native to Europe and Asia, naturalized in North America; leaves trifoliate, dentate; flowers yellow, 5-7mm long, ovary and fruit glabrous. \\
[[http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200012219]]

"Extracts are used to treat the symptoms of venous and lymphatic insuffiency and capillary fragility, such as varicose veins, pruritus, cramp in the calf and in acute attacks of haemorrhoids... [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coumarin|Coumarin]] shows anti-oedemic and anti-exudative activities and accelerates wound-healing. It increases the flow rate in veins (and the lymph system) and decreases capillary permeability but has no anticoagulant properties." [Medicinal Plants of the World. Ben-Erik Van Wyk and Michael Wink, Pretoria 2004, 203] \\
(for cumarin toxicology, see also [[galium_odoratum_l._scop|Galium odoratum]]) 

In living plants, coumarin is glycosidically bound as melilotoside, an odorless precursor. On wilting or injuring, o-coumaric acid (o-hydroxy-trans-cinnamic acid) is released from the glucoside; o-trans-coumaric acid is in equilibrium with the cis-coumaric acid, which then spontaneously lactonizes to coumarin. Coumarin is the aroma impact compound of wilted or dried M.officinalis. \\
[Hagers Handbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis, Springer 2010]

|{{:coumarin.jpg|coumarin}}  \\ coumarin |{{anisaldehyde.jpg| anisaldehyde.jpg}} \\ anisaldehyde |{{anethol.jpg| (E)-anethole}} \\ (E)-anethole |

Coumarin alone made up more than 89% of all volatiles collected from M.officinalis. An extract obtained by solid-liquid extraction of dry sweet clover herb could be fractionated to identify minor volatile components. Higher proportions of coumarin derivatives such as 3,4-dihydrocoumarin, dihydrocoumaric acid methyl and ethyl ester could be found. Other minor components are anethol, 4-methoxy benzaldehyde (anisaldehyde), 2-hexadecanone, and cresol eg.; γ-pentadecalactone was regarded as species indicator compound among the 84 components identified from M.officinale volatiles. \\ [Volatile constituents of sweet clover (Melilotus officinalis L. Lam.)., Wörner, M., Schreier, P., Zeitschrift für Lebensmittel-Untersuchung und Forschung, Vol.190(5), 1990, 425-428]

HPLC of an ethanolic extract prepared from air-dried leaves of M.offcinalis revealed 18 phenolic compounds, predominantly representing coumarins, flavonoids, and derivatives of phenolocarboxylic acids. Main components were ferulic acid (25.0%), arbutin (14.9%), caffeic acid (12.5%), chlorogenic acid (6.8%), rutin (6.2%), hyperoside (5.8%), cinnamic acid (4.6%), coumarin (3.8%). Minor constituents were hesperidin (2.0%), vitexin (1.3%), 4-oxycoumarin (0.15%), and luteolin (0.03%). \\
[HPLC analysis of phenolic compounds in yellow sweet-clover., Bubenchikova, V.N., Drozdova, I.L., Pharmaceutical Chemistry Journal, Vol.38(4), 2004, 195-196] 

"The chemical composition of the leaves oil of Melilotus officinalis (L.) Pallas grown in Colombia was studied by GC and GC-MS. Thirty-five volatile compounds were identified, of which the most prominent were coumarin (35.3 %) and (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol (25.9 %)." \\
[Chemical composition of the leaves essential oil of Melilotus officinalis (L.) pallas from colombia., Quijano-Celis, C.E., Pino, J.A., Morales, G., Journal of Essential Oil Bearing Plants, Vol.13(3), 2010, 313-315]

{{:melilotus_officinalis_d.jpg?500}} \\
Thomé,O.W., Flora von Deutschland Österreich und der Schweiz, Tafeln, vol.3 t.432 (1885) \\
[[http://plantgenera.org/species.php?id_species=655188]]

{{:melilotus_officinalis_r.jpg}} \\
Melilotus officinalis, [[https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/|CC BY-SA 3.0]], Author: Andreas Kraska