Lotus angustissimus L.
Narrowleaf Trefoil

Scientific Description

Prostrate,spreading or scrambling, herb. Stems terete, not spiny, hairy; pustules or glands absent. Leaves or phylloclades clearly present, compound, alternate, not continuous with stem, 6-15 mm long, hairy, with simple hairs, flat with flat margins; margins entire; tubercles absent, leaflets 5, pinnately arranged, terminal leaflet present, stalked; pustules or glands absent. Stipules apparently absent even from the youngest leaves or present but early deciduous ( only visible on youngest leaves ). Pedicel present, 1-1.5 mm long, hairy. Bracteoles present and persistent. Calyx 6-7 mm long, not accrescent, hairy, with simple hairs, ribless; pustules or glands absent. Corolla 8.5-9 mm long, uniformly coloured, yellow; standard 5-7.8 mm long, glabrous, not auriculate, wings 5.8-7 mm long, auriculate, keel 8-8.5 mm long, not beaked, not auriculate, glabrous. Stamens ten; anthers 0.2 mm long, at two different levels (filaments alternately long and short); filaments united in an open sheath with one free stamen, 7-8 mm long. Ovary sessile or subsessile, glabrous; style 7.5-9 mm long, glabrous, not bearded, terete. Fruit dehiscent (a pod or follicle), sessile or subsessile, not constricted between the seeds, round in cross-section, not beaked. Flowers in January, September, October, November and December. Occurs in the South-West Botanical Province, in the Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest, Warren, Esperance and Swan Coastal Plain IBRA regions.