BIRDSFOOT TREFOIL (Lotus corniculatus)
Eurasia, N Africa
Lotus Corniculatus is a low-growing member of the pea family found throughout Britain. This perennial legume forms a dense mat of vegetation, growing in loam, chalk or sand provided there is good drainage. It likes full sun & does not mind whether conditions are sheltered or exposed…
Birdsfoot Trefoil grows in wildflower meadows, in parks & roadsides, on lawns & fields & as a forage plant for grazing animals. It has many lateral roots & a tap root some 120cm long. It is planted for erosion control.
Birdsfoot Trefoil grown from seed
Buds appear in Birdsfoot Trefoil’s mat of tiny green leaves from late April / early May through to September. The buds open into deep YELLOW pea flowers tinged with red; they change to ORANGE as the flowers fade. Once the blooms have gone over, black seedpods appear in groups of three, each threesome resembling a bird’s foot.
Botanical painting by J.N.Fitch
British Wild Flowers in Their Favourite Haunts, A.R.Horwood, The Gresham Publishing Company, 1919.
Birdsfoot Trefoil, Common Blue Butterfly & Caterpillar from Ecology Centre mural, Gillespie Park, North London.
Bees’ Favourite.
Birdsfoot Trefoil is an important plant for wildlife. Pollinated by Bumblebees, its flowers are visited by Butterflies (the Common blue & Brown argus) & other insects for its nectar. Its leaves are caterpillar foodplants for butterflies – the Common Blue & Silver-studded Blue, the Green Hairstreak, the Dingy Skipper & the Six-spot Burnet Moth.
Other names: Boots-and-Shoes, Cat Cluke, Cat-poddish, Cheesecake, Common trefoil, Cornette, Cube, Crow-foot, Crowtaes, Cuckoo’s Stockings, Cuernecillo (Spanish), Devil’s Claws, Devil’s Fingers, Dutchman’s Clogs, Eggs-and-Bacon, Fingers and Toes, Gazelboynuzu (Turkish), Gewone rolklaver (Dutch), Gewöhnliche Hornklee (German), Ginestrino (Italian), God Almighty’s Flowers, God Almighty’s Thumbs-and-Fingers, Golden Slippers, Granny’s Toenails, Ground Honeysuckle, Hen and Chickens, Jack Jump About, Kitty Two-shoes, Lady’s Boots, Lady’s Fingers and Thumbs, Lady’s Glove, Lady’s Shoes and Stockings, Lady’s Slipper, Lamb’s Sucklings, Lamb’s Toe, Our Lady’s Cushion, Milkmaid, Patten and Clogs, Pig’s Pettitoes, Serradelle, Trèfle cornu (French), Sheepfoot & Venus’s Shoe.
Invasive
In parts of the US it is an invasive species. Invasive of the Week text observes that Birdsfoot Trefoil has a 3 foot anchoring taproot…
https://mbgna.umich.edu/invasive-of-the-week-birds-foot-trefoil/Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum.