Lotus (genus)

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This article is about the plant genus. For other plants called "lotus", see List of plants known as lotus.
For other uses, see Lotus.

Lotus

bird's-foot trefoil

Lotus corniculatus

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Plantae

(unranked): Angiosperms

(unranked): Eudicots

(unranked): Rosids

Order: Fabales

Family: Fabaceae

Subfamily: Faboideae

Tribe: Loteae
 Genus: Lotus
L.

Species

Between 70150; see text

Synonyms[1][2][3]

Anisolotus Bernh. ex Schltdl.

Benedictella Maire
Dorycnium Mill.
Heinekenia Webb ex Christ
Tetragonolobus Scop.

Lotus, a latinization of Greek ltos (),[4] is a genus that includes most bird's-foot trefoils (also
known as bacon-and-eggs[5]) and deervetches[6] and contains many dozens of species distributed
world-wide. Depending on the taxonomic authority, roughly between 70 and 150 are
accepted. Lotus is a genus of legume and its members are adapted to a wide range of habitats, from
coastal environments to high altitudes. Most species have leaves with five leaflets; two of these are
at the extreme base of the leaf, with the other three at the tip of a naked midrib. This gives the
appearance of a pair of large stipules below a "petiole" bearing a trefoil of three leaflets in fact, the
true stipules are minute, soon falling or withering.[7] Some species have pinnate leaves with up to 15
leaflets. The flowers are in clusters of three to ten together at the apex of a stem with some basal
leafy bracts; they are pea-flower shaped, usually vivid yellow, but occasionally orange or red. The
seeds develop in three or four straight, strongly diverging pods, which together make a shape
reminiscent of the diverging toes of a small bird, leading to the common name "bird's-foot".
The genus Lotus is currently undergoing extensive taxonomic revision. All species native
to California (30 spp.) have been recently moved to the genera Acmispon and Hosackia in the
second edition of The Jepson Manual.

Contents
[hide]

1Uses and ecology

2Selected species
3References
4External links

Uses and ecology[edit]