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Bird's-foot trefoil holds its flowers in small, crown-like clusters at the tip of a long stalk, above leaves made of five small leaflets. Its buds are often tipped with red or orange, and the opening flowers turn bright yellow, so a single plant can carry both colours at once. That mix has earned it dozens of folk names, from "eggs and bacon" to "granny's toenails."
Each flower is built like a tiny pea flower, with a broad upper petal, two side petals and a pointed keel below. When a bee lands, its weight presses down on the keel, which pushes a small ribbon of pollen out of the tip and onto the bee's underside, ready to be carried to the next flower. Bumblebees are its main visitors.
A low, sprawling plant of short grassland, it copes well with dry, thin soils and is common on old spoil, where its roots, like those of clover, host bacteria that fix nitrogen from the air.
Bird's-foot trefoil holds its flowers in small, crown-like clusters at the tip of a long stalk, above leaves made of five small leaflets. Its buds are often tipped with red or orange, and the opening flowers turn bright yellow, so a single plant can carry both colours at once. That mix has earned it dozens of folk names, from "eggs and bacon" to "granny's toenails."
Each flower is built like a tiny pea flower, with a broad upper petal, two side petals and a pointed keel below. When a bee lands, its weight presses down on the keel, which pushes a small ribbon of pollen out of the tip and onto the bee's underside, ready to be carried to the next flower. Bumblebees are its main visitors.
A low, sprawling plant of short grassland, it copes well with dry, thin soils and is common on old spoil, where its roots, like those of clover, host bacteria that fix nitrogen from the air.