bird's-foot trefoil
Family
FabaceaeScientific Name
Lotus corniculatus
Other Common Names:
birdsfoot trefoil
birdfoot deervetch
cat's clover
crowtoes
bloomfell
ground honeysuckle
Habit
1-2 feet tall plant that flowers from May to September and creeps along the ground with stems that have many leaves and a tap root.
Leaves
Leaves have 5 elliptic, rounded or pointed leaflets, are rounded or pointed at the tip and taper to the base, have no teeth, are sparsely hairy, and up to 2/3 inch long and 1/3 inch wide. The first two leaflets are near the point of attachment and the other three are closer to the apex. Stems are erect or sprawling on the ground, branched, smooth/sparsely hairy, decumbent unless in fairly dense stands, and reach 20-40 or more inches in length.
Identifying Characteristics
Is identified from all members of the pea family by its 5 leaflets at the end of the petiole and 2 at the base. Also has head-like umbels of bright, yellow flowers. Once it sets seed, the pods look like a bird's foot.
Flower Seed Head
Several, 2/3 inch long, bright yellow or orange flowers, sometimes with red stripes, in head-like umbels with 5 sweet-pea shaped petals, bloom in the summer and fall.
Seed Fruit
Fruits are smooth, cylindrical pods that are up to 1 3/4 inches long and have the shape of a bird's claw.
Where Found
Found: Open ground, heaths, roadsides, old fields, and disturbed soil.
Growth Habit
upright and nonwoody
Thorns or Spines
not present
Approximate Flower Diameter
Varies:
pencil,
dime
Dominant Flower Color
Varies:
yellow,
orange
Flower Symmetry
bilateral symmetry
Leaf Hairs
has hairs
Leaf Shape
Varies:
lance,
oval
Leaf Arrangement
alternate
Leaf Margin
entire
Leaf Structure
trifoliate
Leaf Stalk
Varies:
shorter than leaf,
longer than leaf
Stem Hairs
has hairs
Stem Cross Section
round or oval
Milky Sap
not present
Root Structure
taproot
Life Cycle
perennial
Ochrea
not present
Plant Type
Herb