bird's-foot trefoil

or birds·foot trefoil (bûrdz′fo͝ot′)

A perennial herb (Lotus corniculatus) in the pea family native to Eurasia and Africa, having yellow flowers and clusters of pods arranged like the claws of a bird, and widely planted for forage.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

bird's-foot trefoil

(Plants) any of various creeping leguminous Eurasian plants of the genus Lotus, esp L. corniculatus, with red-tipped yellow flowers and seed pods resembling the claws of a bird. Also called: bacon-and-eggs

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

bird's′-foot` tre′foil

a plant, Lotus corniculatus, of the legume family, the pods of which spread like a crow's foot: grown for forage.

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References in periodicals archive ?

Native flowers knapweed and scabious which attract butterflies to their nectar have also been planted along with bird's-foot trefoil - the main plant food of the common blue butterfly.

An oasis of wildlife

Bird's-foot trefoil is also known as eggs and bacon due to the yellow and orange colouration of the flowers.

Mixed weather conditions are blooming great; Sunshine and heavy rain give plantlife growth burst

Flowers such as like harebell and bird's-foot trefoil were being crowded out by a "marauding gang" of nitrogen thugs which were colonising Welsh grasslands, woodlands, heaths and bogs, he said.

'Algal gloop' peril in Welsh habitats; Flower charity blames Welsh poultry farms for rising air nitrogen levels that are spawning bully boy plants and algal slime on trees

They plan to increase the number and diversity of pollinating plants in pastures using specialised seed mixtures such as bird's-foot trefoil, lesser knapweed and tufted vetch.