Peaflower Family:-

The Peaflower Family is "a large family with highly distinctive individual flowers; of the 5 petals, the broad and often erect upper one is known as the 'standard', the two narrower side ones as the 'wings', and the two central lower ones, which enfold the 10 bundled stamens, as the 'keel'. The seeds are in pod (legume) of varying size but usually in the general pattern of a garden pea or bean. Leaves mostly alternate, but the top pair sometimes almost opposite; usually stalked and trifoliate (trefoil) or pinnate, with stipules at their base." from Collins Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers by David McClintock and R.S.R. Fitter assisted by Francis Rose - ISBN 0 00 219363 9 - Eleventh Impression 1978.

Peaflower Family plant table with its Common Name - Botanical Name. Flowering Months Range. Habitat with link to that Peaflowers Wild Flower Family Gallery:-

Common Name

Botanical Name

Flowering Months

Habitat

CLOVERS

Clovers are non-woody plants, rarely over a foot high, with trefoil leaves. The small individual flowers are usually clustered in a dense head; the petals (wings always longer than keel) generally remain after flowering and conceal the tiny pod; calyx 5-toothed.

Alpine Milk-Vetch

Astragalus alpinus

June-July

A perennial herb of species-rich, locally flushed calcareous grassland, and on base-rich ledges and rocky outcrops. Montane, from 650 m (Ben Vrackie, E. Perth) to 770 m (Creig an Dail Bheag, S. Aberdeen).

Flower from Einodsbach on 15 July

Flowers from Einodsbach on 15 July

Foliage from Einodsbach on 15 July

Form

Alsike Clover

(Swedish Clover)

Trifolium hybridum

June onwards

An annual of grassy banks, meadows, roadsides and waste places. It is a frequent, often unintentional, constituent of seed mixtures, but rarely persists once a closed sward has developed. Its persistence in some areas probably relies on repeated introductions. 0-350 m at Stainmore (Westmorland).

Flower from Maidstone in Kent

Flower Buds from Maidstone

Foliage from Maidstone

Form from Maistone

Bladder Senna

Colutea arborescens

(Colutea brevialata)

June-August

A deciduous shrub now well-established in waste places and rubbish tips, and particularly in rough grassland and scrub on railway banks. Lowland. Used in landscaping for erosion control.

Flower

Seed Pods from Rochester in Kent on 21 August

Foliage from Rochester on 21 August

Form from Rochester on 21 August

Burrowing Clover

(Subterranean Clover)

Trifolium subterraneum

May-June

A procumbent winter-annual found near the coast in open grassland or heathland on thin, free-draining neutral to acidic sands, gravels and shingle; inland it occurs in summer-parched grasslands on chalk and limestone. Lowland. Weed control using this plant used as a living mulch.

Flower from Kynance Cove in Cornwall on 25 May

Flowers from Sussex

Form from Sussex on 11 June

Flower in Sussex

Flowers

Flowers from Leybourne in Kent in April

Form

Ant on Foliage in Sussex

Foliage from Sussex on 11 June

Foliage from Leybourne in April

Foliage

Ant on Burrowing Clover in Sussex

Seed in September

Seeds from Leybourne on 29 August

Seed from Leybourne in Kent

Clustered Clover

Trifolium glomeratum

June-July

A winter-annual typically occurring in short open communities on light, drought-prone often somewhat acidic sandy or stony soils near the coast. Habitats include pathside banks, seafront lawns and cliff-slopes; also in sandy pastures, arable land and in the Isles of Scilly as a weed of bulb-fields. It is a rare casual inland. Lowland.

Common Birdsfoot

Ornithopus perpusillus

May-August

A winter-annual of short, open grassland on free-draining acidic sands and gravels; also around rock outcrops, on sand dunes and in bare patches on dry heathland. It is frequently found on drought-prone, sunny banks beside tracks and paths, and can quickly colonise bare areas after fires and other disturbances. Generally lowland, but reaching 380 m at Ettrick (Selkirks.).

Flower in May

Flower Bud

Flower near Cadgwith in Cornwall on 27 May

Flowers

Form from Cadwith on 27 May

Flower in Borough Green on 5 August

Foliage from Cadgwith on 27 May

Foliage

Form in Borough Green on 5 August

Common Bird's-foot Trefoil

Lotus corniculatus

May onwards

A perennial herb of grasslands, including well-drained meadows, chalk and limestone downs, hill pastures and montane rock ledges; also on coastal cliff-tops, shingle and sand dunes. It is absent from only the most acidic and infertile soils. Alien genotypes, introduced from seed mixtures, occur on roadsides. 0-915 m (Stuich an Lochan, Glen Lyon, Mid Perth).

Flower from Lands End in Cornwall on 26 May

Flowers

Foliage from Lands End on 26 May

Form from Eccles on 12 June

Flower from Kynance Cove in Cornwall on 19 May

Flowers from Kynance Cove on 19 May

Flower from Eccles on 12 June

Flowers

Form from Lands End on 26 May

Flower from Eccles on 12 June

Flowers on 12 May

Flower Buds from Lands End on 26 May

Form from Strood in Kent in June

Common Yellow Trefoil

(Lesser Trefoil)

Trifolium dubium

May onwards

A winter-annual of hay meadows, waysides and waste places, and also frequent in lawns. Like T. campestre, it is most frequent in dry grasslands, but can be abundant too in winter-flooded meadows and damp pastures, and can thrive even in fairly nutrient-enriched situations. It also occurs in open habitats such as on rock outcrops, quarry spoil and railway ballast. Generally lowland, but reaching 530 m at Garrigill (Cumberland).

Juvenile Foliage from North Yorkshire in June

Form from North Yorkshire in June

Flowers from Norfolk in May

Mature Foliage from North Yorkshire in June

Flower Buds from Kynance Cove on 25 May

Form from Norfolk in May

Flowers

Foliage from Kynance Cove in Cornwall on 25 May

Form

Crimson Clover

(Carnation Clover, Italian Clover)

Trifolium incarnatum

(Trifolium incarnatum subsp. incarnatum, Trifolium incarnatum L. var. elatius)

June-July

Crimson clover is widely grown as a protein-rich forage crop for cattle and other livestock. It can typically be found in forest margins, fields and roadsides.

Flower

Flowers

Foliage

Form

Crown Vetch

Coronilla varia

(Securigera varia)

June-August

A sprawling perennial, naturalised in grassy habitats on roadsides, banks, in quarries and waste places. Lowland.

Dragon's Teeth

Tetragonolobus maritimus

(Lotus maritimus)

June-September

A perennial herb well naturalised in rough calcareous grassland in S. England, where it is introduced with grass- or fodder-seed. Elsewhere it occurs as a casual on rubbish tips, roadsides and waste ground. Lowland.

Flower in August

Flowers from Chilterns in August

Foliage from Chilterns on 20 August

Form from Chilterns on 20 August

Flower from Chilterns

Juvenile Seed Pod

Seed Pod from Chilterns on 20 August

Mature Seed Pod

Greater Birdsfoot Trefoil

Lotus uliginosus

(Lotus pedunculatus)

June-August

A perennial herb of rushy pastures, wet meadows, marshes, ditches, the margins of lakes, ponds and rivers, wet road verges and other marshy places. It is probably more frequent on acidic soils than calcareous ones. Generally lowland, but reaching 490 m on Dartmoor (S. Devon)

Flower from Swansea Bog on 10 July

Flowers from Swansea Bog on 10 July

Foliage from Swansea Bog on 10 July

Form from Swansea Bog on 10 July

Flower Buds from Swansea Bog on 10 July

Foliage from Swansea Bog on 10 July