Lotus pedunculatus
Common name
lotus
Family
Fabaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
LOTPED
Brief description
Scrambling herb, either forming dense yellow flowered patches or scrambling through other vegetation, leaves with 5 lobes, small ( c. 1 cm) yellow, pea-like flowers in groups of 12 or more at the branch tips.
Distribution
Common in higher rainfall areas throughout New Zealand.
Habitat
Terrestrial. Especially common in wetter areas. Waste places, pasture, frequently along drains and in swamps.
Features
Clover-like perennial legume, scrambling to 1 m (2 m if supported). Roots fibrous. Stems with stolons, hollow, hairless to moderately hairy, woody at base often dying back to base in dry conditions. Leaves stalkless, 3-foliolate with 2 smaller leaflets (stipules) at base, usually with a few hairs beneath and on margins; leaflets 8-22 mm long, with conspicuous lateral veins. Flowers pea-like, 11-13 mm long, fragrant, golden yellow; clustered 5-12 on stalk 12-15 cm long, Nov-Mar. Seed pods straight, thin, 15-35 mm long.
Similar taxa
L. angustissimus slender birdsfoot trefoil is a shaggy-hairy annual, with reddish, wiry stems, flowers 1-2 clustered. L. suaveolens hairy birdsfoot trefoil has orange-yellow flowers, pods radiating from a point (like a birdsfoot), stems hairy, prostrate, not woody; leaves hairy. L. tenuis has small thin leaflets; few, small, yellow (occ orange reddish) flowers. Other Lotus spp and new cvs of L. pedunculatus (e.g. Maku) used as pasture, crop and plantation forestry pre-plant species.
Flowering
November, December, January
Flower colours
Yellow
Fruiting
Summer and autumn
Life cycle
Perennial. Seed dispersed by water or contaminated machinery as well as by animals via dung and intentional plantings.
Forms persistent seedbank. Stems running along the ground capable of forming new plants at the tips (Webb et al., 1988).
Year naturalised
1867
Origin
Europe, Asia and North Africa
Reason for introduction
Pasture species
Control techniques
Not controlled in New Zealand.
Tolerances
Tolerates wet to dampish, hot to cold, poor soils, low fertility (fixes nitrogen), little shade, grazing.
Attribution
Factsheet prepared by Paul Champion and Deborah Hofstra (NIWA).
References and further reading
Webb, C.J.; Sykes, W.R.; Garnock-Jones, P.J. (1988). Flora of New Zealand Volume 4: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch. 1365 pp.
Popay et al (2010). An illustrated guide to common weeds of New Zealand, third edition. NZ Plant Protection Society Inc, 416pp.
Johnson PN, Brooke PA (1989). Wetland plants in New Zealand. DSIR Field Guide, DSIR Publishing, Wellington. 319pp.