«88 LOTUS. 
Tiiis has a perennial ftalk, three feet high. When the 
roots are large, they frequently fend up feverai of thefe 
ftalks, efpecially if the old ones be cut down ; they are 
hairy, and divide into feverai branches. John Bauhin 
fays it is from half a yard to a yard in height; and Mag- 
nol obferved it in a wood a yard and a half high. Several 
of the fnecies are very fhort in open fituation, but are 
drawn up very much when they grow among bufhes. Na¬ 
tive cf the fouth of France. Italy, and Sicily; alfo of the 
Levant. It was cultivated in iG8$,by Mr. Tames Suther¬ 
land ; and flowers from'June to Auguft. It is called by 
Gerard hoary clavcr ; and by Parkinfon greater pile trefoil. 
17. Lotus Grascns, or flve-leaved bird’s-foot trefoil: 
heads roundifh ; ftem upright, rough-haired; leaves qui- 
nate ; legumes ovate. This is a middle»fpecies’between 
the preceding and following, infomuch that it is difficult 
€0 fay which it approaches the neareff. Stem annual, but 
more fpreadingly branched. Flowers white, lefs than in 
Iiirfutus, larger than in rectus. It differs from all the reft 
In having quinate (not ternate) leaves ; that is, five leaflets, 
befides the ffipules ; which are oblong, as in L. hirfutus ; 
not cordate, as in L. redtus. Native of the Levant; 
Greece, and Arabia. 
18. Lotus redius, or upright bird’s-foot trefoil: heads 
fubglobular; ftem upright, even; legume ftraight, fmooth. 
This has a Itrong perennial root, from which arife many 
upright Itrong ftalks, from three to four feet high, co- 
Yered with a purplifh bark, and towards the top fending 
out a few fide branches. Flowers whitifh, numerous, in 
a horizontal bundle. Legumes more than twenty, whereas 
in L. hirfutus there are fewer than ten ; they are cylin¬ 
drical, obfoletely torulofe at the feeds, black, the length 
of the human nail ; and contain fix or eight inrall glo¬ 
bular black feeds, which are not fliining. Native of the 
fouth of Europe; obferved in the fouth of France, Cala¬ 
bria, and Sicily, by Ray; in Arragon, by d’Affo ; near 
Lyons, Turin, See. by Morifon ; in the county of Nice, 
by Ailione. Parkinfon calls it lejer pile trefoil. It was 
cultivated in 1683, by Mr. James Sutherland. 
19. Lotus corniculata, or common bird’s-foot trefoil: 
ftems proftrate ; heads of flowers flat ; legumes cylindric, 
fpreading. Root perennial, tapering, ftriking deeply into 
the earth. Stems feverai, flender, bluntly four-cornered, 
procumbent except where fupported. as in meadows or 
among bufhes, from fix or feven inches to a foot and a 
Ira 1 f in length ; varying even more in different foils and 
fituation, and in the feverai varieties. “ I have now before 
me, Auguft 17, 1797,” fays Mr. Profelfor Martyn, “ fpe- 
cimens from the fame fpot; fome growing detached, per¬ 
fectly procumbent, and only fix inches long ; others three 
feet and a half high, by having run up among bushes, 
■which they do without either twitting or elafping by ten¬ 
drils. Leaves ternate, petioled, one at each joint, the 
leaflets differing extremely in form, in the feverai varie¬ 
ties, from bluntly ovate to linear-lanceolate ; thole in tIre 
fpecimens before me are ovate, terminating in a fhort 
point, on very fhort pedicels, the middle one narrowing 
towards the bafe, fo as to be almoft wedge-fhaped ; they 
are fmooth, and the common petiole is membranaceous. 
The flowers grow in flatted heads refembling umbels, on 
peduncles from two to three inches and a half in length, 
but on pedicels hardly a line long. There is a Angle feiflie 
ternate leaf at the bale of each head without any ffipules ; 
and fometimes there is only one leaflet or two ; the num¬ 
ber of flowers varies from three or Tour to twelve or thir¬ 
teen ; none of my fpecimens have more than fix, very few 
more than four, and fome only one or two. Calyx fringed 
with long foft hairs ; corolla, before it opens, of a bloody 
red on the outflde, and of ayellowilh green within ; when 
expanded, of a full yellow ; all the petals are equal, and 
ltand each on narrow feparate claws ; the banner bent 
back, and the wings oolong-ovate. Legumes fmooth, 
fpreading like the lpokes of a wheel, or rather like the 
fingers, or birds’ claws, and ending in a long ftraight 
point. Seeds many, fometimes more t)ian twenty, final), 
fomewhat kidney-fhaped, and fpofted. I do not find thafr 
more than three or four pods in a head come to maturity.” 
Native of all parts of Europe, and alfo of Japan, in 
meadows, paftures,. heaths, by road-fides, in hedges,, 
among bufhes, and in woods: flowering from June, to 
Auguft. The fimilitude of the ffipules to leaves occa- 
fioned fome of the old writers to call it Lotus penta- 
phyllos ; Gerard however calls it /mail codded trefoil ; and 
Ray, bird'sfoot trefoil , which is the name now commonly 
retained. Withering calls it hird's-foot daver. In York- 
ftiire it is faid to be called chce/ccake-grajs, and in fome 
other counties, butter-jags, and crow toes. It has been re¬ 
commended for cultivation by Eilis under the name of 
ladies finger, by which it is confounded with Anthyllis 
volneraria, a much inferior plant in rural economy ; and 
by Dr. Anderfon under the name of Attragalus glycy- 
phyllos, or milkwort, which is a ftrong-fmelling lticky 
plant, that does not feem to be agreeable to cattle, though 
Linnaeus affirms that horfes, kine, goats, and fheep, eat it. 
In German it is named gehornte Jchotenklee, wilder Jleinklee } 
gelber funfolattrigcr hlee, gelbe vegclzoiche, kleiner hornklce, 
hornwiche , zvalzenk.raiit,frauenfingerkraut, unferer Helen frauek 
Jchuhlein ; in Dutch, gehoornde klavercn, gekreonde, melcter, , 
jvfferjfchoentfes ; in Danifh, kierringtand, kragcklcver ; in 
Swedifh, karingetander ; in French, lotier cornicule ou des 
pres, trcfle jaiine. 
Mr. Miller has made three fpecies out of this ; and fe¬ 
verai varieties, are admitted. But Monf. Villars juftly 
calls this fpecies a Proteus, and remarks that he has feen 
individuals, of one of the varieties of it, that approached 
nearer to Lotus hirfutus, in appearance, than to many in¬ 
dividuals of this fpecies. Where plants are fo given to. 
change, it is eafy, but dangerous, to multiply fpecies. 
Linnaeus, in diftinguifhing the firft and fecond fpecies, 
only mentions that the appearance and place cf growth 
are different, whereas the place of growth may probably 
occafion the difference in the appearance. 
The flowers of bird’s-foot trefoil become green when 
dried, in which refpeef they referable tbofe of" Indigo. 
Mr. Miller lays, he has always obferved, that cattle of all 
forts avoid eating this plant, whillt the grafs all round it 
has been eaten very bare. But he ought to have remarked, 
that it is the delignation of Providence, that, whilft cat¬ 
tle crop the herbage, they generally leave the flowering 
Items untouched, otherwife many plants could not be pro¬ 
pagated. When he goes farther indeed, and affirms that 
he has cut the plant when young, and given it to various 
animals, but could never get them to eat it ; we can only 
fay that more modern experience contradicts his experi¬ 
ence, whatever it might be. Linnaeus’s account is, that 
kine, goats, and horfes, eat it; but that fheep and fwine 
are not fond of it. On the contrary we are told, that it 
is cultivated in Hertfcrdfliire as pafturage for fheep. It 
makes extremely good hay; in moift meadows grows to a 
greater height than the other trefoils, and feems to be of 
aquality equal, if not fuperior, to molt ofthem. In com¬ 
mon with leveral other leguminous plants, it gives fnb- 
ftance lo the hay, and perhaps’contributes to render it 
more palatable and wholelotne for cattle. Dr. Anderfon 
affirms, that, as every fpecies of domeltic animal eats tbs 
bird’s-fcot trefoil, (or milkwort, as he calls it, having 
miftaken it for Aftragalus glycypbyllos, a plant totally 
different in appearance, character, and qualities,) in pre¬ 
ference to every other plant, it feldom comes to flower in 
pafture-grounds, unlels where they have been laved from 
cattle for fome time. What firft recommended it to his 
notice, was the having obferved it to grow and fiouriih. 
in poor ground ; as in the mid ft of a barren moor, where 
the foil was fo poor that even heath could hardly grow ; 
upon bare obdurate clays; and in dry and barren lands. 
It certainly flourifh.es not only in thefe, but alfo in a 
chalky foil; and we may add, that on moors, heaths, and 
downs, hard flocked with iheep, we may oblerve the fur- 
face to be yellow with the flowers of this plant ; which 
contradicts what Dr, Anderfon aliens above, that it fel¬ 
dom 
