• Family : FABACEAE
  (Pea Or Bean Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : PALASH FAMILY (पलाश फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : LEGUMINOSAE
• Subfamily : Faboideae
• Basionym : Trifolium indicum L.
• Synonym(s) : Melilotus parviflorus Desf.
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Melilotus indicus (L.) All.
• Common name : Small flowered Melilot
• Vernacular name : Ran-methi (Marathi); Banmethi (Hindi); Banmethi (Oria)
• Habit : Herb
• Comments / notes : Weed of cultivated fields and wastelands
• Key identification features : Annual herb
• Flower, Fruit : September-April
• Distribution :
  • Karnataka : Bengaluru district, Mysuru district, Raichur district
  • Maharashtra : Akola district
  • Odisha : Puri district, Cuttack district, Sundergarh district, Khurda district
  • Tamil Nadu : Tirunelveli district, Thoothkudi district, Ramanathapuram district, Pudukkottai district, Thanjavur district, Tiruvallur district, Nagapattinam district, Cuddalore district, Kanchipuram (Changalpattu-CGP) district, Tiruvallur district
• Native : India, SE. Asia, Europe
• World Distribution : Introduced in N. America and South Africa
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1994- Flora of Orissa Vol. 1; Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1983). Flora of Tamil Nadu, India vol. 1; Kamble & Pradhan, 1988. Flora of Akola District, Maharashtra. Botanical Survey of India; Cecil J. Saldanha, S. R. Ramesh (1984). Flora of Karnatka State vol. 1. Oxford and IBH Publishing Co, New Delhi; Ramaswamy & Razi, 1973 - Flora of Bangalore district, Karnataka state; Rao & Razi, 1981 – Mysore
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Melilotus indica. Downloaded on 2 April 2025.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)