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		Garden Bird's-foot-trefoil - Lotus corniculatus
		
			
				Other Names:  
				Eggs and Bacon, Bird's-foot Deervetch,
				Lotus tenuis
			
		
		
		
		
	 
	
	 
		General Description
		Taprooted perennial with a branched crown. Stems simple or branched, ascending to prostrate, 15–60 cm. Herbage glabrous to sparsely strigose. Leaves sessile, with 5 oblanceolate leaflets, 5–15 mm long. Inflorescence a long-pedunculate few-flowered umbel subtended by a trifoliolate bract. Flowers yellow, sometimes red-tinged; calyx tube 2–3 mm long with linear sepals 1–3 mm long; banner 6–10 mm long; keel 8–12 mm long. Legume 2–4 cm long (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
 
		
	
	
	Species Range
	
		
			Montana Range
		Range Descriptions
			
			
			
				
					
					Non-native
				 
			
				
					
			 
			
		 
		
	 
	
    		Range Comments
			Introduced for forage and to stabilize road banks throughout much of North America; native to Eurasia (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
			
		
		Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
		Number of Observations: 286
		
		
(Click on the following maps and charts to see full sized version)
		Map Help and Descriptions
		
		
			
				Relative Density
				
			 
		
			
				Recency
				
			 
		
		 
		
			
				
			
				
			
					
				
			(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)
		 
		
			
		
		
	
		Habitat
		
		
		
	
		Ecology
		POLLINATORS The following animal species have been reported as pollinators of this plant species or its genus where their geographic ranges overlap: 
Bombus vagans, 
Bombus fervidus, 
Bombus occidentalis, 
Bombus pensylvanicus, and 
Bombus griseocollis (Thorp et al. 1983, Colla and Dumesh 2010, Colla et al. 2011).
 
		
	
		Management
		
		
	
		Stewardship Responsibility
		
		
	
	References
	
		
			- Literature Cited AboveLegend:  
 View Online Publication
Colla, S., L. Richardson, and P. Williams. 2011. Bumble bees of the eastern United States. Washington, DC: USDA Forest Service, Pollinator Partnership. 103 p.
Colla, S.R. and S. Dumesh. 2010. The bumble bees of southern Ontario: notes on natural history and distribution. Journal of the Entomological Society of Ontario 141:39-68.
Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 771 p.
Thorp, R.W., D.S. Horning, and L.L. Dunning. 1983. Bumble bees and cuckoo bumble bees of California (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Bulletin of the California Insect Survey 23:1-79.
 
			- Additional ReferencesLegend:  
 View Online Publication
Do you know of a citation we're missing?
Jensen, P.D. 2001. The foraging and nesting behavior of four solitary-nesting bee species (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) in the Gallatin Valley, Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, Montana: Montana State University. 76 p.
Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2022. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants, Second Edition. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 779 p.
Seipel, T.F. 2006. Plant species diversity in the sagebrush steppe of Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 87 p.
 
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