Hairy Bird's-foot Trefoil

Hairy Bird's-foot Trefoil photos

Family: Pea (Fabaceae syn. Papilionaceae)

Scientific Name:

Lotus suavelolens

Population of Hairy Bird's-foot Trefoil
Photo: A J Brown

Other Common Names:

Boyd’s Clover

Status:

Native to Europe, the Middle East and northern Africa. Naturalised across most of temperate Australia and New Zealand.

Plant Description:

Prostrate to ascending annual herb with densely hairy stems to 70 cm long. Leaves are composed of 5 softly hairy, leaflets, the lower two often smaller and stipule-like, clasping the stem and the upper three appearing clover-like. Lower leaflets are ovate to lanceolate and 4-12 mm long and 2-8 mm wide. Upper leaflets are narrowly obovate, 5-20 mm long and 3-10 mm wide.

Flowers are yellow in groups of 1-4 and 6-9.5 mm long. Fruit is a circular, hairless, pod, 0.8-1.5 cm long and 1-2 mm wide; the pods spreading to give the overall appearance of a bird’s-foot.

Habitat:

Scattered through the higher rainfall parts of Victoria in damp to wet pastures, grasslands and flats. Usually indicative of fresh-water environments. Waterlogging tolerant.

Region	Salinity Class	Waterlogging Class
Central and Northern, Western, Gippsland	S0	W1, W2, W3

Comments:

There are a number of Trefoils growing in Victoria, including two native species; the very variable, Austral Trefoil (Lotus australis) and Red Bird’s-foot Trefoil (Lotus cruentus), which have some salt tolerance. The more common introduced species, apart from Hairy Bird’s-foot Trefoil, growing in damp to waterlogged situations are Slender Bird’s-foot Trefoil (Lotus angustissimus), Greater Bird’s-foot Trefoil (Lotus uliginosus) and Bird’s-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus). The latter two species are more or less hairless, perennials. Trefoils can provide useful summer fodder for grazing animals. Most are tolerate of infertile and acid soils.

Hairy Bird's-foot Trefoil photos

Stem and leaf of Hairy Bird's-foot Trefoil Photo: A J Brown	Flowering branch of Hairy Bird's-foot Trefoil Photo: A J Brown
Flowers of Hairy Bird's-foot Trefoil Photo: A J Brown	Flowers of Hairy Bird's-foot Trefoil Photo: A J Brown
Pods of Hairy Bird's-foot Trefoil Photo: A J Brown

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