The BRITISH HERBAL. 
GENUS IX. 
BIRDSFOOT TREFOIL. 
L 0 r U S. 
'~pHE flower is papilionaceous. Tlie vexillum is roiindifh, and bends downward ; and it lias a 
long, hollow bottom. The alse are fhort, broad, obtufe, and converge upwards, The ca- 
rina is rounded below, clofed above, fhort, fliarp-pointed, and turned upwards. The cup is formed 
of a fingle piece : it is hollow, and is divided into five regular fegments. The feed-vefiel is long and 
flender, and the feeds are numerous and roundiih. The leaves iland three on each footllalk, as in the 
preceding genera ; but there are alfo two fmall ones on the tlalk, at tiie infertion of the footllalk of 
the others. 
Linn^us places this among the diadelphia decandria ; the threads of the flower being ten, in two 
affortmenta. 
DIVISION I. BRITISH SPECIES. 
I. Common Birdsfoot Trefoil. 
Lotus corniciilata glabra minor. 
The root is long, and furnifhed with many 
fibres. 
The ftalks are numerous, flender, firm, and 
branched : they are ufually of a redilli colour, 
and are ten inches high. 
The leaves are of a fine flrong green : three 
ftand on a long footflalk, and two at its bafe : 
they are oblong, and fharp-pointed. 
Th-e flowers fland in cluflers at the tops of 
flender footflalks, rifing from the bofoms of the 
leaves i and they are fmall and yellow. 
The pods are flrait, flender, and long. 
It is common in our paflures, and flowers in 
Augufl:. 
C. Bauhine calls it Lotus pent aphylla minor gla- 
bra. 
1. Narrow-leaved Birdsfoot Trefoil. 
Lotus corniculnta angujiifolia glabra. 
• The root is long and flender. 
The flalks are numerous, and very much 
branched : they are firm, upright, and fix inches 
high. 
The leaves fl:and three on a footfl:aIk, and two 
at the bafe of it : they are narrow, of a frclli 
green, and fharp-pointcd. 
The flowers are fmall and yellow : they fl:and, 
as in the other, on long footitalks, fix or eight 
together. 
The feed-veffels are long, flender, and 
brown. 
The plant difl:inguifhes itfelf at firfl: fight 
from the common kind by its upright, bufhy 
afpeft. 
We have it in corn-fields, where the foil is 
clayifli- It flowers in Augufl:. 
Ray calls it Lotus pentaphyllos minor angiiftio- 
rihus foUis fruticcfior. 
DIVISION II. F O 
I. Square-podded Lotus. 
Lotus Jliqua quadrala fiore rulrs. 
The TOOL is long, and furniflied with many 
iibres. 
3. Great Birdsfoot Trefoil. 
Lcii/s cGrnkulala hirfuta major. 
The root iscompofed of numerouSjflendcr fibres. 
The ftajl;s are weak, of a pale colour, a little 
hairy, not much branched, and a foot or more 
in height. 
The leaves are numerous and large : three (land 
on each footftaik, and two at its bafe : they are 
oblong, broad, of a pale green, and lightly hairy. 
The flowers are large and yellow, with a tinge 
of orange-colour : they fl:and in little tufts at the 
tops of the pedicles, which rife from the bolbm 
ol the leaves. 
The fccd-vclTel is long, (lender, and brown. 
It is frequent in damp places, and flowers in 
Auguft. 
C. Bauhine calls it Ldus fentaflxjllos florc ma- 
jore lutto ffkndenle. Others, Lotus corniculata. 
birfuta major. 
The leaves of this plant are fometimcs very 
little hairy, and of a brighter green. In this (late ■ 
it is defcribed in Dillenius's edition of the Sy- 
nopfis as a new fpecies ; but it is a variety owing 
only to its growing on a drier foil. 
4. Dwarf Birdsfoot Trefoil. 
Loins corniculata mnima foliis [uhtus hlrjutis. 
The root is compofed of a few flender threads. 
The ftalks are numerous, weak, and procum- 
bent : they are of a rcdifli colour, and three or 
four inches long. 
The leaves fland three on a footllalk, and two 
at its bafe : they arc Ihort, roundiHi, but termi- 
nated by a point; and of a blackifh green above, 
and white and hairy underneath. 
The flowers are fmall and yellow ; the pods are 
very flender and brown. 
We have it in dry, hilly pafliures, cfpecially 
where the foil is chalky. It flowers in July. 
Ray calls it Lotus corniculata minor foliis fuhtus 
incanis. 
REIGN SPECIES. 
The flalks are numerous and weak : they 
fpread every way upon the ground j and are 
branched, and of a pale green, a little hairy, 
and a foot and half long. 
The flowers are placed at didances : three grow 
upon 
