Lotus heermannii
Encyclopedia
Lotus heermannii is a species of legume
Faboideae
Faboideae is a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. One acceptable alternative name for the subfamily is Papilionoideae....

 known by the common name Heermann's bird's-foot trefoil. It is native to the coastal plains, canyons, and mountains of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 and Baja California
Baja California
Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...

, where it is known from several types of oceanside and inland habitat. It is a mat-forming perennial herb spreading straight stems along the ground. It is lined with leaves made up of several hairy oval leaflets. The inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...

 is a cluster of 3 to 8 flowers each up to about a centimeter long. The petals are yellow, often with dark lobes. The fruit is a curved, beaked legume pod.

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