Lotus unifoliolatus (Hook.) Benth.   =Lotus purshianus (Benth.) Clements & E. G. Clements var. purshianus                                                           Fabaceae (Pea Family)                                                                                      Native   Spanish Clover   Spanish Lotus

                                  June Photo

Plant Characteristics: Erect or ascending much-branched annual, 1.5-8 dm. tall, glabrate to villous; lvs. 1-2.5 cm. long, mostly 3 foliate; lfts. 10-15 mm. long; peduncles 10-15 mm. long, 1 fld.; bract 1-foliate; calyx tube ca. 1.5 mm. long, the subulate teeth longer; corolla whitish, tinged pink, 4-7 mm. long; pods 1.5-2.5 cm. long, 2-3.5 mm. wide; seeds ca. 3 mm. long.

Habitat:  Common in dry fields and disturbed places, below  7000 ft.; many Plant Communities; cismontane and sometimes on the desert; to B.C., Dak., Mex.  May-Oct.

Name:  See L. hamatus  on the origin of the genus name.  Named for Pursh, author of an early American Flora.  (John Johnson).

General:  Occasional in the study area.  First found on the 23rd St. flats.  Photographed in that area.  (my comments).        Many races and ecological forms.  (Hickman, Ed. 620).      Roberts in his 1998, 

A CHECKLIST OF THE VASCULAR PLANTS OF ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA,  lists Lotus unifoliolatus as a new name for L. purshianus var. purshianus. (my comment).

Text Ref:  Abrams, Vol. II 546; Hickman, Ed. 620; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 449; Roberts 24.

Photo Ref:  June 1 86 # 10,11; July 1 86 # 4,5.

Identity: by R. De Ruff, confirmed by F. Roberts.

First Found: June 1986.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 105.

Plant specimen donated to UC Riverside in 2004.

Last edit  8/5/05.

                                  June Photo                                                                                 July Photo