Gifts of Siberia: Melilot
A Chapter Revealing How a Plant Graced by Nature Serves as a Source of Strength for Both Body and Soul...
We continue our journey across Siberia's boundless expanse, discovering its herbs and plants. Today, our subject is melilot, or sweet clover. In summer, it blooms with golden flowers, resembling bits of sunlight, drawing the eye and touching the heart. Yet melilot is far more than a beautiful plant, it boasts a wealth of therapeutic properties appreciated by both bees and herbal medicine experts.
There are legends associating melilot with the sun. People used to think that having melilot grow by your house would bring warmth, prosperity, and joy to the household.
The Golden Gift of Nature
Melilot (in Latin, Melilótus) is a herbaceous plant within the legume family (Fabaceae), growing up to 1–1.5 m high with a branched root. Its leaves are paripinnate with small leaflets, while the stems are upright and branched. The tiny flowers form long, loose racemes, hanging down gracefully, colored yellow or white. Favoring sunny places and moist earth, the plant grows along roadsides, on waste ground, fallow fields, and in quarry sites.
Siberia is home to two widespread species of melilot – white melilot and yellow melilot. White melilot has a soft aroma and large white flowers and serves both agricultural and medicinal purposes. Yellow melilot features intensely fragrant yellow flowers and is widely used to treat various ailments.
Melilótus, the Latin name for melilot, essentially means "honey forage herb". And indeed, melilot is one of the most renowned honey plants. It blooms up to 2 months, and can flower again after being mowed, which is why bees love it so much. Beekeepers claim that a single hectare covered in melilot can yield up to 300 kg of superb honey! The honey color varies: Yellow melilot produces light, amber, almost clear honey, while white melilot honey is white. The plant is also used as a fodder crop and for soil enrichment: The small nodules on its roots contain nitrogen-fixing bacteria that replenish vital nitrogen in the soil.
The plant name comes from Greek and Latin roots meaning "honey" and "lotus".
Meadow Medicine: Melilot's Hidden Power
The medicinal properties of melilot were known even in ancient Greece. Today these benefits are recognized in mainstream medicine. Herbal blends containing yellow melilot are used to make decoctions, tinctures, extracts, tea, and target cardiovascular, respiratory, endocrine, urogenital and digestive issues.
The chief active ingredient in melilot is coumarin. Its primary action is to maintain blood fluidity, prevent clot formation, and thereby enhance microcirculation and tissue nourishment. It also exerts a coronary vasodilatory effect, which is beneficial for the cardiovascular system. Furthermore, it is an effective anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, and antibacterial agent.
Thanks to such composition, melilot benefits the nervous and cardiovascular systems, normalizes blood pressure, improving the blood circulation of the brain, enhancing memory as well as increasing focus and alleviating inflammatory symptoms. Its leaves and flowers also contain tannins, glycoside cymarin, coumaric acid, dicumarol, melilotin, choline, allantoin, Vitamins C and E, carotene, essential oils and mucilage.
In modern practice, melilot is applied to address a range of health issues:
- As a calming agent to ease insomnia;
- As an antispasmodic for migraines, ischemic heart disease and atherosclerosis;
- For inflammatory respiratory issues;
- For joint and muscle pain;
- For varicose veins;
- For inflammatory processes of the skin and soft tissues.
Like many Siberian plants, white melilot extract is also a key ingredient in the beloved Extra Rich Massage Balsam.
Featuring a concentrated blend of active botanical components, it contributes to reducing discomfort, easing muscle spasms and tension, relieving post-exercise fatigue, as well as offering potent anti-inflammatory effects.
Did you know that the wondrous melilot holds so many diverse beneficial properties?