BIRD'S FOOT TREFOIL 31 



Daisy, and other widespread pratal species, growing luxuriantly also 

 on banks, such as railway embankments or cuttings. 



The slender, numerous stems grow in close clusters, and are 

 branched, the leaflets, which are in threes, are egg-shapecl and smooth, 

 but hairy here and there. The stems are half-erect and somewhat 

 square-stalked. The leaflets are only shortly stalked. The stipules 

 (in pairs) are narrowly elliptical, ending in a point. 



The flowers vary in colour from red to lemon colour, and in 

 number from 5 to 10, but are usually golden yellow, and borne on short 



BIRD'S FOOT TREFOIL (Lotus corniculatus, L.) 



flowering branches, in a sort of umbel, the heads being bent down. 

 The calyx is not quite half as long as the corolla, and at first the 

 teeth are pressed together and erect, and are triangular below, awl- 

 shaped above, the points of the two upper teeth meeting together. 

 The pods are cylindrical, separated by divisions between the seeds, 

 and two-valvecl. 



Sometimes the plant is a foot or more in height, but usually 

 4-6 in. The flowers may be seen from May to September. Bird's 

 Foot Trefoil is perennial. 



In this common flower we have a type of the relation of parts to 

 insect visits typical of flowers like the Pea in general. There are five 

 petals, of which the upper is erect and called the standard. Below 



