Clusters of yellow pea flowers flushed orange-red in bud, followed by pods splaying out from one point like claws
Bird's-foot trefoil — Lotus corniculatus.
Nature · Wildflowers & flowers
Bird's-foot trefoil
Flowers May to September
Lotus corniculatus — Fabaceae
Bird's-foot trefoil is the low, sprawling yellow pea of grassland, dunes and road verges, its clustered slipper-shaped flowers streaked with orange-red in bud — hence the country name eggs and bacon. The English name comes from the ripe seed pods, which splay out from one point like the claws of a bird's foot. It is the food plant of the common blue butterfly and of half a dozen other grassland insects.
How to spot them
- ▸Clusters of two to seven yellow pea flowers on a long stalk, often flushed orange or red in bud
- ▸Ripe pods radiating from one point like a bird's foot, splitting and twisting to fling out the seed
- ▸Leaves of five leaflets, but with the lower two bent back at the base so only three show — hence trefoil
- ▸Low, sprawling, usually under 30 cm; grassland, dunes, cliff tops, verges and lawns, May to September
- ▸Stems solid, not hollow; that separates it from the greater bird's-foot trefoil of damp ground
How to know it
Country names for it include eggs and bacon, butter and eggs, hen and chickens, and granny's toenails
Bird's-foot trefoil — the last name for its claw-like pods.
Its leaves have five leaflets but only three show, the lowest pair being bent back like stipules
Bird's-foot trefoil — hence trefoil.
The main larval food plant of the common blue butterfly, and of the six-spot burnet and dingy skipper
Bird's-foot trefoil.
Its epithet means 'horned', for the shape of the pods, and it fixes nitrogen with root nodules
Lotus corniculatus — bird's-foot trefoil, family Fabaceae.
Its tissues contain cyanogenic glycosides, so the plant can release small amounts of hydrogen cyanide when chewed
Bird's-foot trefoil — nonetheless grown as a forage legume.
The damp-ground relative is taller with hollow stems and more flowers in the head
Greater bird's-foot trefoil, Lotus pedunculatus, versus the common species.
Quick-fire facts
- •Family Fabaceae; Lotus corniculatus — corniculatus means horned, for the pods
- •The Wildlife Trusts note the five leaflets and the colloquial names eggs and bacon, butter and eggs, hen and chickens and granny's toenails
- •Chief larval food plant of the common blue butterfly; also used by the dingy skipper, green hairstreak and six-spot burnet moth
- •Nitrogen-fixing, with root nodules containing rhizobia, and grown as a forage crop for hay and pasture
- •Contains cyanogenic glycosides; the amount varies between plants, and is a textbook case of polymorphism
- •Greater bird's-foot trefoil, Lotus pedunculatus, is taller, with hollow stems and damp habitats
- •Despite the name it is unrelated to the lotus of Egypt or of Buddhist iconography
- •The unopened flowers of some plants are streaked red, which is where eggs and bacon comes from
Drill it — 8 cards
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Sources
- The Wildlife Trusts — Common bird's-foot-trefoil