Lotus corniculatus

Common bird's-foot trefoil ( Lotus corniculatus )

The Common bird's-foot trefoil ( Lotus corniculatus ), called in Switzerland, Klee peppers, belonging to the genus birdsfoot trefoil ( Lotus ).

Description of the plant

The herbaceous plant reaches heights of growth 5-30 cm. The stipules are wrong - ovate, pointed and almost as large as the leaves. The leaves are obovate to wedge-shaped. The lower leaf surface is bluish green.

The doldigen inflorescences are two to siebenblütig and provided at the base with three small bracts. The calyx teeth are inclined together before flowering. The 15 mm long yellow corolla is often externally reddish. The boat is bent at right angles to the tip. A special pumping mechanism is used to pollinate the flowers. The pollen is emptied already in the bud state. The club-shaped swollen filaments form a piston press out the pollen, if boat and wings are burdened by an insect, from the flower. Bloom time is from May to September.

The curved legume gave the type its name.

The Common Fenugreek, also called Common bird's-foot trefoil, is a rather variable species and mostly tetraploid.

Ecology

The Common Fenugreek is also used as fodder plants, nitrogen supplier and honey bees. His nectar contains an average of 40 % sugar, each flower produces 0.08 mg of sugar daily. In addition, the Common Fenugreek is an important food source for the Common Blue.

Toxicology

The plant contains cyanide -releasing ( cyanogenic ) compounds. The quantities which usually are harmless to existing mammals, but in snails, the main enemies of the freshly sprouting foot Trefoil, they act as a stomach poison.

Occurrence

The main range of the species is the middle and western Eurasia and northern Mediterranean. In Austria it is very common in all provinces.

As the site preferably the kind meadows, grass courts, semi-dry grasslands, bushes, rocks and cliffs and roadsides. In the Alps it is found at altitudes of about 2300 m.

Pictures

Inflorescence of the ordinary foot Trefoil ( Lotus corniculatus ):

• Strong reddish / orange overcrowded copy