Judean Bird’s Foot Trefoil

Lotus collinus, Lotus judaicus, Lotus longisiliquosus,
Judean Bird’s Foot Trefoil, לוטוס יהודה

Scientific name:   Lotus collinus (Boiss.) Heldr.
Synonym name:   Lotus longisiliquosus R. Roem., Lotus judaicus Bornm.
Common name:   Judean Bird’s Foot Trefoil
Hebrew name:   לוטוס יהודה
Family:   Papilionaceae, פרפרניים


Life form:   Hemicryptophyte
Stems:   25-35 cm high
Leaves:   Alternate, imparipinnate (pinnately compound leaves in which there is a lone terminal leaflet rather than a terminal pair of leaflets), obovate to oblong-oblanceolate; subglabrous to pubescent
Inflorescence:   Heads 3 to 5- flowered
Flowers:   Yellow, Upper 2 calyx-teeth curved upwards, lateral 2 shorter than the lower; keel with a yellow or brownish-yellow beak
Fruits / pods:   Legume, dehiscent
Flowering Period:   March, April, May
Habitat:   Mediterranean maquis and forest, Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands
Chorotype:   Meditarranean
Summer shedding:   Perennating


Derivation of the botanical name:

Lotus, the classical Greek name.

collinus, pertaining to hills.
longisiliquosus, longus, long; siliqua, silique, type of long two-valved seed pod.
judaicus, Jewish.
The Hebrew name: לוטוס, lotos, Latin lotus, from Greek lotos, from Hebrew לוט (-ladanum); probably related to Akkadian: ladunu, Arabic: la- dan ( = ladanum); Persian ladan is an Arabic loan word. Greek ledon (=rock- rose), whence ladanon ( = labdanum) is a Semitic loan word.

  • The standard author abbreviation Boiss. is used to indicate Pierre Edmond Boissier (1810 – 1885),a Swiss botanist, explorer and mathematician.
  • The standard author abbreviation Heldr. is used to indicate Theodor Heinrich Hermann von Heldreich (1822 – 1902), a German botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation R. Roem. is used to indicate Rudolph Benno von Roemer (fl.1828 – 1852), a German botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Bornm. is used to indicate Joseph Friedrich Nicolaus Bornmüller (1862 – 1948), a German botanist.