LOTUSL.BIRD'S-FOOT TREFOIL

LOTUSL. - BIRD'S-FOOT TREFOIL

Scientific Description:

Annual or perennial herbs, rarely semi-shrubs. Leaves pinnate, usually 5-foliolate. Leaflets entire, two lower ones often different in shape from the others, usually remote from them and stipule-like, the blade not adnate to the petiole. Stipules minute and deciduous, reduced to tubercles or 0. Inflorescence 1−many-flowered, usually ± umbellate, subtended by 1−3 1eafy bracts. Calyx 5-toothed, from subcampanulate to bilabiate. Corolla yellow, pink, red, purpie or whitish. Keel beaked, ± arched. Stamens diadelphous. Legume usually dehiscent, terete or flattened, rarely with transverse partitions, 1−many-seeded. Seeds smooth or rarely rugulose. Subgenus Lotus L. (to which all the Turkish species belong) occurs throughout the Eastern hemisphere; it is characterised by its unbranched style. Subgenus Pedrosia Lowe is confined to the southwestern part of Europe and West Africa.

Reference:

Heyn CC (1970). Lotus L., In: Davis PH (ed.) Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 3: 518.

Public Description:

Lotus, known as “bird's-foot trefoil”, is a genus of annual or perennial herbs, rarely semi-shrubs, and is distributed in worldwide. There are approximately 141 species and 20 species (24 taxa) in Türkiye. All parts of the plant are poisonous, containing “cyanogenic glycosides (hydrogen cyanide)”. In small quantities, hydrogen cyanide has been shown to stimulate respiration and improve digestion, it is also claimed to be of benefit in the treatment of cancer. In excess, however, it can cause respiratory failure and even death. They are completely innocuous when dried.

References:

Anonymous 1 (2016). https:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_(genus)/, Accessed date: 09.02.2016.

Anonymous 2 (2016). https:/gobotany.newenglandwild.org/genus/lotus/, Accessed date: 09.02.2016.

Anonymous 3 (2016). http:/www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Lotus/, Accessed date: 09.02.2016.

Anonymous 4 (2016). http:/www.theplantlist.org/1.1/browse/A/Leguminosae/Lotus/, Accessed date: 09.02.2016.

Vural M (2012). Lotus L., In: Güner, A., Aslan, S., Ekim, T., Vural, M. & Babaç, M.T. (eds.), Türkiye Bitkileri Listesi (Damarlı Bitkiler). Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanik Bahçesi ve Flora Araştırmaları Derneği Yayını. İstanbul, pp. 471–473.