LOTUS CORNICULATUS

...or to me, the Bird's Foot Trefoil.  The name Bird’s-foot comes from the seed pods which are claw like and resemble a Bird’s foot. Another popular name for this plant is Granny’s Toenails.


The Trefoil part of the name is a reference to the leaves. Each leaf is actually made up of five leaflets but two of these are at the base of the mid rib and the remaining three form the trefoil at the end of the leaf.


We found a bankside covered in these gorgeous flowers along with a broad swathe of good old-fashioned purple clover.  In this morning's sunshine the scent was reminiscent of walking by streams and railway embankments on school summer days.  The shrill repetitive warble of a high in the sky lark would have rounded off the experience.