Online Virtual Flora of Wisconsin

Lotus corniculatus L.

Family: Fabaceae

bird's-foot deer-vetch, bird's-foot trefoil

[Lotus corniculatus var. arvensis L.]

Robert Bierman

Merel R. Black

University of Wisconsin - Madison (WIS-VP)

Open Interactive Map

Etymology: Lotus: from Greek and originally applied to a fruit which was said to make those who tasted it forget their homes
Plants: erect to drooping, perennial, 6"-24" tall, mostly smooth forb; taprooted
Leaves: mostly stalkless, 5-parted with the lower 2 leaflets separated from the other 3 crowded leaflets
Flowers: yellow turning orange with brick-red marks, 5-parted, 1/3"-1/2" long; inflorescence a long-stalked, rounded, head-like cluster (umbel) of 4 to 8 stalked flowers from the upper leaf axils; blooms June-Aug.
Habitat: disturbed sites
Hazardous: Careful, this plant is hazardous!
Invasiveness: Invasive - Eradicate!
Conservation Status: Introduced - naturalized; ecologically invasive

Roadsides, railroad tracks, waste areas, fields and pastures, lawns, gravelly or sandy lots and pits, open wet weedy areas such as ditches and shallow excavations; invading sedge meadows, prairies, oak woods, and clay bluffs. A European species introduced for erosion control and forage and now widespread; first collected in 1948. The “stipules” of this species are actually the lowest pair of leaflets. The L. corniculatus group is widespread and variable in its native Eurasia with numerous other taxa recognized at specific or infraspecific rank by some authors. A specimen at WIS (K. Rill s.n.) appears to be L. tenuis Waldst. & Kit. ex Willd. which has the upper leaves linear to linear-lanceolate, at least 3–4 times as long as wide. This taxon is sparingly introduced in the United States, mostly out west. Anthyllis vulneraria L. (kidney vetch) was collected on a roadside embankment in Dane Co. in 1963 and was noted as still persisting there in 1972; it does not seem to have become established anywhere else in the state. It differs from Lotus corniculatus in having terminal inflorescences and leaves and calyces covered in silky hairs.