bird's-foot trefoil

American  

[burdz-foot] / ˈbɜrdzˌfʊt /

noun

1. a plant, Lotus corniculatus, of the legume family, the pods of which spread like a crow's foot, grown for forage.

2. any similar plant of the same genus.

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bird's-foot trefoil British  

noun

1. Also called: bacon-and-eggs.  any of various creeping leguminous Eurasian plants of the genus Lotus , esp L. corniculatus , with red-tipped yellow flowers and seed pods resembling the claws of a bird

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Etymology

Origin of bird's-foot trefoil

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

Through this belt the actual road meanders; the sward on each side is now bathed in wild flowers, conspicuous among which are patches of the yellow bird’s-foot trefoil.

From The Cruise of the Land-Yacht "Wanderer" Thirteen Hundred Miles in my Caravan by Stables, Gordon

Among the first, my notes mention the following: Convolvulus cantabrica, or flax-leaved bindweed; Lotus symmetricus, or bird's-foot trefoil; Teucrium polium, or poly; and the flowery heads of the Phragmites communis, or common reed.

From Bramble-Bees and Others by Teixeira de Mattos, Alexander

Then there was short elastic wiry grass and orange-yellow bird’s-foot trefoil.

From Patience Wins War in the Works by Fenn, George Manville

Numerous names have been suggested by their fancied resemblance to the feet, hoofs, and tails of animals and birds; as, for instance, colt's-foot, crow-foot, bird's-foot trefoil, horse-shoe vetch, bull-foot, and the vervain, nicknamed frog's-foot.

From The Folk-lore of Plants by Dyer, T. F. Thiselton (Thomas Firminger Thiselton)

Many curious names have resulted from the prefix pig, as in Sussex, where the bird's-foot trefoil is known as pig's-pettitoes; and in Devonshire the fruit of the dog-rose is pig's-noses.

From The Folk-lore of Plants by Dyer, T. F. Thiselton (Thomas Firminger Thiselton)