LOTUS MIN'IMA. 
LEAST BIRD’s-FOOT TREFOIL. 
Class. 
DIADELriI I A. 
Order. 
DF.CANDKIA. 
Natural Order. 
leguminosas. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers 
Duration. 
Cultivated 
S. Europe. 
3 inches. 
in June. 
Perennial. 
in 1845. 
No. 1 102. 
Lotus, originally Lotos, is believed to be a word 
of Egyptian origin, taken up by the Greek bota- 
nists, but its meaning is unknown. It was subse- 
quently used by Ovid, as the name of a daughter 
of Neptune. 
Lotus minina, is amongst tho smallest subjects 
of one of the most extensive natural families of 
plants ; whose most prominent feature is its papilio- 
naceous or butterfly-like flowers ; and next to this, 
its leguminous or pea-like fruit ; one or the other 
of which is always present, but both are not uni- 
versally present in plants of this order. 
This plant greatly resembles the British Lotus, 
corniculatus, and like it will form a close and 
beautiful carpet to the earth. That plant, and we 
believe this also, delights in the most arid sands, 
as if it came from the hand of its Maker, formed 
especially for growth upon, and the protection of, 
sandy places, which, but for such a protecting 
carpet, would be scattered to the winds. 
Lotus minima is of the easiest culture ; pretty 
for rockwork, producing compact green tufts, span- 
gled in summer with its golden flowers. 
