Lotus aboriginus
Encyclopedia
Lotus aboriginus is a species of legume
Faboideae
Faboideae is a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. One acceptable alternative name for the subfamily is Papilionoideae....

 known by the common name rosy bird's-foot trefoil. It is native to the west coast of the United States from Washington to northern California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, where it grows in the coastal mountains and canyons, often in moist areas. It is a perennial herb lined with leaves each made up of pairs of oval leaflike leaflets 1 to 3 centimeters long. The inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...

 is a spray of 6 to 10 white or pink flowers each about a centimeter long. The flower is somewhat tubular, encased at the base in a calyx of sepal
Sepal
A sepal is a part of the flower of angiosperms . Collectively the sepals form the calyx, which is the outermost whorl of parts that form a flower. Usually green, sepals have the typical function of protecting the petals when the flower is in bud...

s and lobed at the mouth. The fruit is a hairless elongated legume pod three to five centimeters long.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK