Lotus unifoliolatus (Hook.) Benth.
bird's-foot trefoil (American bird's-foot trefoil; Small-flowered Birds-foot Trefoil; Spanish-clover)
Fabaceae (Pea family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
bird's-foot trefoil (American bird's-foot trefoil; Small-flowered Birds-foot Trefoil; Spanish-clover)
Fabaceae (Pea family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Species Information
General:
Annual herb from a taproot, finely soft-hairy throughout; stems 1 to several, decumbent to erect, 10-60 cm long/tall.
Leaves:
Alternate, nearly unstalked, pinnately compound; leaflets mostly 3, lanceolate to elliptic, 6-25 mm long; stipules gland-like.
Flowers:
Inflorescence of single pea-like flowers on stalks from the leaf axils, the stalks 5-30 mm long, with a small simple bract just below the flower; corollas pale yellow tinged with pink, 4-9 mm long; calyces 3-6 mm long, the awl-shaped teeth longer than the tube.
Fruits:
Pods, 1.5-3.5 cm long, slightly constricted between the seeds, glabrous, spreading or drooping; seeds 4 to 8, slightly flattened, brownish, black-mottled.