Lotus (genus)
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Lotus > |
Read about Lotus (genus) in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
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Lotus (an old Greek name). Leguminosae. Herbs and subshrubs, grown for the yellow, purple, rose- colored or white flowers. Plants glabrous, silky or hirsute: lvs. with 3-5 lfts. crowded at the apex of the petiole and commonly 2 joined to the st. and resembling stipules: fls. mostly pea- shaped, often in axillary few-fld. umbels, rarely solitary; standard broad, contracted at base; wings obovate; keel incurved or inflexed, beaked; calyx-lobes longer than the tube; stamens 9 and 1, connate but free from the petals: pod oblong or linear.—Species 80-100, largely in the Medit. region, but also in S. Afr., Temp. Asia and Austral. By some botanists, the genus Hosackia (which see) has been united with Lotus, but it differs in having usually morel lfts., short calyx-teeth, obtuse keel. One lotus (L. corniculatus) has become established in N. Amer. Lotus nigricans of cult, is Kennedya, nigricans. Lotus meant several things to the ancients: (1) the Greek lotus, a leguminous plant on which horses fed. This was probably what we call to-day Lotus cor- niculalus, the common bird's-foot trefoil of temperate regions. (2) The Cyrenean lotus, an African shrub, the fruit of which was eaten by certain North African tribes who were called lotus-eaters. The fruit was said to be honey-sweet, the size of an olive and in taste like a date. This was probably Zizyphus Lotus, a prickly shrub whose fruit is, however, considered inferior to that of the common jujube, Zizyphus saliva. Other conjectures have been: Celtis australis, a tree which has a small, sweet berry; Nitraria tridentata, a thorny desert shrub whose succulent fruit has a stimulating quality, and Rhanmus Lotus, another North African plant. European lotus is a name for Diospyros Lotus, a kind of date plum which is cultivated in southern Europe, but the fruit is hardly edible. (3) The Egyptian lotus or sacred lily of the Nile. This is Nymphsea Lotus, which, like the Hindu lotus, has rose-colored as well as white flowers. American cultivators at the present time almost universally consider that the true Egyptian lotus is Nelumbium speciosum, now called Nelumbo, but Nelumbium speciosum is not a native of Egypt. (4) The Hindu and Chinese lotus, also called the sacred or Pythagorean bean. This is Nelumbo indica, better known us Nelumbium speciosum. The name lotus was doubtless used for other water-lilies, particularly the blue-flowered Nymphsea caerulea.
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See Lotus for other uses, including several other plant taxa bearing this name.
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| Between 70-150 species; see text |
The genus Lotus (Bird's-foot Trefoil, Trefoil or Deervetch) contains approximately 150 species distributed world-wide. Lotus is a genus of legume and its members are adapted to a wide range of habitats, from coastal environments to high altitudes. Most species have leaves with three leaflets, but also two large stipules at the base roughly equal in size to the leaflets, thus appearing to have five leaflets; some species have pinnate leaves with up to 15 leaflets. The flowers are in clusters of 3-10 together at the apex of a stem with some basal leafy bracts, pea-flower shaped, vivid yellow or orange, occasionally red.
Lotus species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species - see list of Lepidoptera which feed on birds-foot trefoils.
- Species
- Lotus aboriginus - Rosy Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus alamosanus - Sonoran Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus angustissimus - Slender Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus argophyllus - Silver Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus argyraeus - Canyon Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus benthamii - Bentham's Deervetch
- Lotus berthelotii - Canary Islands Trefoil
- Lotus corniculatus - Common Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus crassifolius - Big Deervetch
- Lotus creticus
- Lotus dendroideus - Island Deervetch
- Lotus denticulatus - Riverbar Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus formosissimus - Seaside Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus glaber - Narrow-leaf Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus grandiflorus - Chaparral Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus greenei - Greene's Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus hamatus - San Diego Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus haydonii - Rock Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus heermannii - Heermann's Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus humistratus - Foothill Deervetch
- Lotus incanus - Woolly Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus intricatus - Arid Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus jacobaeus
- Lotus japonicus
- Lotus junceus - Rush Deervetch
- Lotus maritimus
- Lotus mearnsii - Mearns' Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus micranthus - Desert Deervetch
- Lotus nevadensis - Nevada Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus nuttallianus - Wire Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus oblongifolius - Streambank Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus ornithopoides
- Lotus palustris
- Lotus parviflorus - Smallflower Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus pedunculatus - Big Trefoil
- Lotus pinnatus - Meadow Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus plebeius - New Mexico Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus procumbens - Silky Deerweed
- Lotus rigidus - (Desert rock pea), Shrubby Deervetch
- Lotus rubriflorus - Redflower Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus salsuginosus - Coastal Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus scoparius - Common Deerweed
- Lotus sessilifolius
- Lotus stipularis - Balsam Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus strigosus - Strigose Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus suaveolens - Hairy Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus subbiflorus - Hairy Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus tenuis - Narrowleaf Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus tetragonolobus - Winged Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus unifoliolatus - American Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus uliginosus - Greater Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus utahensis - Utah Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus wrangelianus - Chilean Bird's-foot Trefoil
- [[Lotus wri
ghtii]] - Wright's Deervetch
- Lotus yollabolliensis - Yolla Bolly Bird's-foot Trefoil
Uses
Several species are culvivated for forage, including L. corniculatus, L. glaber and L. uliginosus. Scentific research for crop improvement and understanding the general biology of the genus is focused on L. japonicus which is currently the subject of a full genome sequencing project, and is considered a model organism.
They can produce toxic cyanogenic glycosides which can be potentially toxic to livestock, but also produce tannins, which are a beneficial anti-bloating compound.
Some species, such as L. berthelotii from the Canary Islands, are grown as ornamental plants. L. corniculatus is an invasive species in some regions of North America and Australia.