Hedysarum coronarium

Inflorescence of the Italian Süßklees ( Hedysarum coronarium )

Hedysarum coronarium, also Spanish sainfoin, sulla French, Italian sweet clover, faucet head or crown called sweet clover, is a species of the genus sulla ( Hedysarum ) and belongs to the legume family ( Fabaceae ). The first publication was in 1753 by Linnaeus in Species Plantarum, 2, pp. 750

Description

In Hedysarum coronarium is a perennial herbaceous plant with plant height between 30 and 150 cm. It forms a taproot and is drought tolerant.

The up to 15 cm long leaves are pinnate with 5-11 leaflets unpaired. The elliptical, oval or obovate shaped leaflets are 1.5-4 cm long and 0.8-2 cm wide, the terminal leaflet slightly larger than the lateral leaflets. The glossy upper surface of the leaves is smooth, bottom and blade edge are hairy tightly.

The inflorescences have a 5-15 cm long petiole and consist of up to 40 wine-red to purple flowers. Very rarely will you find an albino form with white petals.

There are brown pods with 1-4 members, clearly separated from each other by constriction segments formed. In the segments, there is a single, rounded, laterally flattened dark seeds.

Occurrence

The home of the Crown Süßklees the Maghreb and Spain, it is now also grown in southern Europe, Australia, India, Brazil and New Zealand.

Use

The Spanish sainfoin is cultivated mainly as a forage crop. It is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental plant in gardens. In Italy honey produced by the plant. In New Zealand, the plant serves as erosion protection and vegetation of roadsides.

In earlier times it was allegedly used as a vegetable ( source of protein ), eg in Tuscany.