Birdsfoot trefoil
June 5, 2015
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EmailLotus corniculatus L. Fabaceae (Legume family)
Life cycle
Mat-forming perennial.
Birdsfoot trefoil plant.
Leaves
Alternate, compound with five generally oval and smooth-margined leaflets. Each compound leaf has three terminal leaflets and two reduced leaflets near the stem.
Birdsfoot trefoil leaf.
Stems
Prostrate and spreading to semierect stems are herbaceous, branched from a tough crown and up to 3 feet long. Plants form mats by stolons and rhizomes.
Flowers and fruit
Bright yellow, pealike flowers, sometimes streaked with red, are found in flat-topped clusters at the ends of long stalks. Fruit are several linear, cylinder-shaped pods formed in the shape of a bird’s foot. Each capsule contains several roundish, shiny, olive to black seeds.
Birdsfoot trefoil flowers.
Reproduction
Seeds, stolons and rhizomes.
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