Strigose Lotus, Bird's Foot Trefoil (Acmispon strigosus)

3/10/17 Camino del Norte, Lake Elsinore, Riverside County, CA 

3/10/17 Camino del Norte, Lake Elsinore, Riverside County, CA 

3/23/19 Harford Springs Reserve, Gavilan Hills, Riverside County, CA

4/3/11 Meccacopia Trailhead, Box Canyon Road, Mecca Hills, E. Riverside County, CA

LIFE LIST NOTES:

COMMON NAME: Strigose Lotus, Bird's Foot Trefoil

SPECIES: Acmispon (Lotus) strigosus

FAMILY: Fabaceae (Pea Family)

LIFE LIST DATE: 4/3/2011

LOCATION: Meccacopia Trailhead, Box Canyon Road, Mecca Hills, E. Riverside County, CA

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Treatment from Jepson eFlora:

NATIVE

Habit: Annual, often fleshy, strigose or not. 

Stem: prostrate, often mat-forming, generally branched from base, 0.3--5 dm. 

Leaf: irregularly pinnate; stipules gland-like, black; leaflets 4--9, 3--10 mm, oblanceolate to obovate; axis flat, +- blade-like. 

Inflorescence: 1--2-flowered, peduncle 3--25 mm, generally bracted. 

Flower: calyx 3--5.5 mm, lobes < tube, +- strigose; corolla 5--10 mm, opening or not, yellow, orange or +- red in age, wings generally > keel; stigma glabrous or puberulent. 

Fruit: dehiscent, erect or spreading, 1--3.5 cm, linear, generally curved near tip, generally flat, margin not wavy; beak curved, 0.5--1.5 mm. 

Seed: 5--10. 

Ecology: Coastal scrub, chaparral, foothills, deserts, roadsides, other disturbed areas; 

Elevation: < 2300 m. 

Bioregional Distribution: GV, CW, SW, D; 

Distribution Outside California: Arizona, Mexico. 

Flowering Time:Mar--Jun 

Note: Several variants often recognized (see Isely, pp. 193--198); plants in CA-FP generally +- strigose, with narrow leaflets; plants in D fleshy, generally canescent, with wide leaflets. Conspicuous in spring. 

Synonyms: Lotus strigosus (Nutt.) Greene; Lotus strigosus var. hirtellus (Greene) Ottley; Lotus strigosus var. tomentellus (Greene) Isely; Lotus tomentellus Greene; Acmispon strigosus (Nutt.) D.D.Sokoloff var. hirtellus (Greene) D.W. Taylor

eFlora Treatment Author: Luc Brouillet