Scientific name: Lotus pedunculatus Cav.
Common name: Greater Bird's-foot-trefoil
Description
Habit: A hairy perennial, to 1 m high.
Stems: Hollow, erect.
Leaves: Alternate, pinnate, with 5 oval leaflets, the lowest 2 at the base and resembling stipules; true stipules minute.
Flowers: Yellow, zygomorphic, hermaphrodite, 10-12 mm across, stalkless, in groups of 5-10 in umbels; calyx of 5 sepals fused into a tube, teeth spreading when in bud; petals 5, 2 forming free wings, 2 are fused to form a lower keel and 1 conceals the stamens and carpel; stamens 10, 9 fused forming a tube, the 10th free; carpel 1, style 1.
Fruits: A legume pod, 25-30 mm long.
Habitat: Marshes, wet grassland, riverbanks, hedges.
Distribution: Frequent to rare.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No