General:
Perennial herb from a rhizome; stems numerous, prostrate to trailing and often rooting at the nodes, to 60 cm long, glabrous to soft-hairy.

Leaves:
Alternate, pinnately compound; leaflets 5, the lowest pair basal, somewhat stipule-like, short-stalked, nearly equal in size and shape to the 3 terminal leaflets, which are elliptic to egg-shaped, 5-15 mm long, usually minutely toothed and fringed with soft hairs; leaf axis 2-5 mm long, flattened; stipules tiny, gland-like.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a compact, stalked, axillary umbel of 2 to 8 pea-like flowers, the umbel-stalks stout, to 8 cm long; corollas yellow, often tinged with red, 8-15 mm long; calyces 1/3-1/2 as long as the corollas, hairy or glabrous, the linear to lanceolate teeth shorter than to as long as the tube.

Fruits:
Pods, narrowly oblong, 2-4 cm long; seeds 10 to 25, brownish-black, 1.5 mm long.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Flower Colour:
Yellow

Blooming Period:
Early Spring

Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present from Spring to Summer

Source:  The USDA

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Lotus corniculatus var. arvensis (Schkuhr) Ser. ex DC.
Lotus corniculatus var. ciliatus (Ten.) W.D.J. Koch
Lotus corniculatus var. tenuifolius L.