Plant Name
Scientific Name: Lotus strigosus var. tomentellus
Synonyms: Hosackia tomentella, Lotus intricatus, L. tomentellus
Common Names: Strigose Bird's-foot Trefoil, Green's Desert Deervetch
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Annual
Growth Habit: Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert. This tiny wildflower grows in open gravelly and rocky areas.
Flower Color: Yellow
Flowering Season: Spring
Height: To 1 inch (2.5 cm) tall and 1 foot (30 cm) wide
Description: The flowers are tiny and pea-like. The leaves are green, tomentose (densely or lightly covered in matted, woolly hairs), and pinnate with plump, thick, partly folded, often red-edged leaflets. The stems are hairy, branched, and prostrate. The plants form mats on the ground.
The similar Foothill Deervetch (Lotus humistratus) is also mat-forming, but it has much thinner, non-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 strigosus (Nutt.) Greene – strigose bird's-foot trefoil
Variety: Lotus strigosus (Nutt.) Greene var. tomentellus (Greene) Isely – strigose bird's-foot trefoil
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