Lotus Corniculatus

Bird's-foot trefoil is a low, spreading native perennial with clusters of bright yellow pea flowers that often open from orange-red buds. The slender pods radiate like the toes of a bird's foot, giving the plant its familiar name. Flowering from late spring into autumn, it supplies nectar for bees and is an important food plant for several butterfly and moth caterpillars. Tough, nitrogen fixing and tolerant of poor ground, it is excellent for wildflower lawns, banks, gravel gardens and informal edging where richer plants would become too lush.