Lotus rigidus – Shrubby Deervetch

Lotus rigidus - Shrubby Deervetch, Wiry Lotus, Broom Bird's-foot Trefoil, Desert Rockpea (yellow flower)

Lotus rigidus - Shrubby Deervetch, Wiry Lotus, Broom Bird's-foot Trefoil, Desert Rockpea (orange flower)

Lotus rigidus - Shrubby Deervetch, Wiry Lotus, Broom Bird's-foot Trefoil, Desert Rockpea (beans)

Lotus rigidus - Shrubby Deervetch, Wiry Lotus, Broom Bird's-foot Trefoil, Desert Rockpea (leaves)

Lotus rigidus - Shrubby Deervetch, Wiry Lotus, Broom Bird's-foot Trefoil, Desert Rockpea

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Lotus rigidus

Synonym: Hosackia rigida

Common Names: Shrubby Deervetch, Wiry Lotus, Broom Bird's-foot Trefoil, Desert Rockpea

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial

Growth Habit: Subshrub, Herb/Forb

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Desert, Upland

Flower Color: Yellow, Orange

Flowering Season: Spring

Height: To 3 feet (91 cm) tall

Description: The flowers are in clusters of 1 to 3. The individual flowers have hairy, typically reddish sepals and are pealike, 1 inch (2.5 cm) long, and yellow fading to red-tinged yellow or orange with a red-backed banner petal. The flowers are followed by slender, mostly hairless, straight, green to reddish bean pods with a pointed, up-slanted tip. The leaves are green, at widely spaced intervals along the stems, covered lightly with flat-lying hair, and pinnate to palmate with 3 to 5 oblanceolate to egg-shaped leaflets. The numerous stems are slender, wiry, branched, and ascending. The plants are shrublike.

This species can be recognized by its upright, shrubby form, wiry stems, and widely spaced leaves. The many other Lotus species found here are prostrate, have more closely spaced leaves or flowers on the stems, or are much hairier.

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 rigidus (Benth.) Greene – shrubby deervetch

More About This Plant

Arizona County Distribution Map