Plant Name
Scientific Name: Lotus humistratus
Synonym: Hosackia brachycarpa
Common Names: Foothill Deervetch, Hairy Deer Vetch, Foothill Bird's-foot Trefoil
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Annual
Growth Habit: Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert. In years with sufficient winter rains, this tiny wildflower is common on rocky slopes and flats in the foothills.
Flower Color: Yellow with orange tinting
Flowering Season: Spring
Height: To only 1 inch (2.5 cm) tall
Description: The flowers are tiny and pea-like with orange on the back of the banner petals. The leaves are green, covered in soft, spreading, white hairs, and subpinnate or palmate with typically 4, oval, point-tipped leaflets. The plants are low-growing and mat-forming.
The similar Strigose Bird's-Foot Trefoil (Lotus strigosus var. tomentellus) is also mat-forming, but it has thickened, partly folded leaves.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Rosidae
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae – Pea family
Genus: Lotus L. – trefoil
Species: Lotus humistratus Greene – foothill deervetch
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