Flora of Israel: Lotus peregrinus

Lotus peregrinus, Lotus carmeli, Bird’s Foot Trefoil,
Hebrew: לוטוס מצוי, Arabic: قرن الغزال

Scientific name:   Lotus peregrinus L.
Synonym name:   Lotus carmeli Boiss.
Common name:   Bird’s Foot Trefoil
Hebrew name:   לוטוס מצוי
Arabic name:   قرن الغزال
Family:   Papilionaceae, פרפרניים


Life form:   Annual
Stems:   10-50 cm high; pubescent
Leaves:   Alternate, imparipinnate (pinnately compound leaves in which there is a lone terminal leaflet rather than a terminal pair of leaflets)
Inflorescence:   Heads 2- to 5-flowered
Flowers:   Yellow, peduncles shorter than or equalling leaves; lateral calyx-teeth very short, obtuse
Fruits / pods:   Legume, straight
Flowering Period:   March, April, May
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts and extreme deserts
Chorotype:   Mediterranean
Summer shedding:   Ephemeral


Derivation of the botanical name:

Lotus, the classical Greek name.

peregrinus, foreign, wanderer.
carmeli, of Mount Carmel in northwest Israel.

  • The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.
  • The standard author abbreviation Boiss. is used to indicate Pierre Edmond Boissier (1810 – 1885), a Swiss botanist, explorer and mathematician.



Location: Bene Zion Nature Reserve