CXLII.— THE GREATER BIRD’S-FOOT TREFOIL. 
hotiis uliginosiis Schkuhr. 
T he genus Lotus, which comprises some eighty species, natives of Temperate 
climates, is distinguished from Anihyllis by having generally trefoil leaves with 
leafy stipules ; a calyx which is not inflated ; a pointed keel to the corolla ; a 
detached upper stamen and a many-seeded pod, longer than the calyx and having 
transverse partitions between the seeds. As the shortly-stalked flowers are very 
generally arranged in a few-flowered umbellate cluster, the straight pods which 
succeed them spread out like the toes of a bird, and have given the British 
representatives of the genus the name of Bird's-foot Trefoil. 
The leaves exhibit the nyctitropic or “sleep” movements (so termed from the 
Greek vvkto<;, nukios, of night ; Tpow^, trope, turning) so general among the 
members of this Family, and the pollination-mechanism is a piston system much like 
that of Anthyllis. The wing petals are interlocked with those of the keel by a 
projection on each, fitting into a corresponding depression on the keel petal, so that 
the two pairs move together under the weight of an insect-visitor. The stamens are 
at first alternately of unequal length, those of the outer whorl becoming markedly 
dilated just below their anthers, so as to form the piston. All the anthers discharge 
their pollen into the pointed space in the apex of the keel before the flower expands, 
and those of the inner row then shrivel up. Honey is secreted at the bottom of the 
staminal tube and is rendered accessible to insects by the separation of the uppermost 
stamen from the other nine and by a slight upward bend in its filament. When 
wings and keel are depressed by the weight of a 'bee, some of the pollen is forced 
out in a little stream at the apex of the keel against the under side of the insect ; 
but on its departure the petals spring back into their former position, so that the 
process may be repeated. Not only is the flower usually protandrous but the stigma 
does not become receptive until rubbed. 
In addition to two or three uncommon species, we have throughout the British 
Isles two very common forms. Of these, the lower-growing L. corniculatus Linn6 
occurs chiefly in dry pastures, whether on calcareous or sandy soil, but extends up 
into the sub-alpine zone in the Scottish Highlands to altitudes of 2,800 feet, and is 
abundant on sand-dunes and loose sand alike cn heaths and on the sea margin. Its 
flowers are in clusters of from five to ten, and the calyx-teeth are erect or pressed 
against the corolla in the bud stage, the two upper ones, at the back of the standard 
petal, converging toward one another. 
The bright little flower-heads of this species, generally only an inch or two 
from the ground, with the petals often beautifully varied with scarlet and orange, 
have gained for it an immense array of nicknames from children, such as 
Bniter-and-eggs, Eggs-and-hacon, Fingers-and-toes, and Shoes-and-stockings. These and 
many others appear in Messrs. Britten and Holland’s “Dictionary of English Plant 
