Birdsfoot Trefoil
Lotus corniculatus
Full description
Birdsfoot Trefoil is a long lived perennial producing clusters of yellow and red flowers on 10 to 30 cm stems especially in June and July, but some flowering continues until September. The plant is very common throughout the British Isles and is found mainly in grassy and waste places, often in limestone pastures but also on some heaths and scrublands. It prefers dry and infertile sites. In the garden it can be used both in a frequently cut flowering lawn and as an easily maintained herbaceous border plant which is cut back once a year.
The plant is a food plant for the larvae of the Common Blue, other Blues, the Clouded Yellow butterfly and the Burnet Moth. To function as a food source for the Common Blue larva, the turf should be kept short, at under 2.5 centimetres.
It is also amongst the preferred nectar sources for the Dingy Skipper, Lulworth Skipper, Grizzled Skipper, Small Blue, Brown Argus, Common Blue, Chalkhill Blue, Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillary, and Pearl Bordered Fritillary.
It is also loved by bees who pollinate it.