Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Lotus australis

Flowers and leaves. Photographer Richard Hartland, Melton, Vic?

Flowers and leaves. Photographer Don Wood, above Kambah Pool, Murrumbidgee River, Canberra

Flowers and leaves. Australian Plant Image Index, Photographer Murray Fagg, Adelaide, SA

Common name

Australian trefoil, Austral trefoil

Family

Fabaceae

Where found

Dry forest, woodland, and grassy areas. Sydney area, tablelands, ACT, the mountains to the west, Kosciuszko National Park, and Western Slopes. Occasional elsewhere.

Notes

Perennial herb to 0.6 m tall, hairy to hairless. Leaves alternating up the stems, compound, with 5 leaflets, each 0.6-4 cm long, 1–10 mm wide, hairy to hairless, tips pointed to blunt, basal leaflets stem-clasping. Flowers 10-22 mm long, pea shaped, with 5 petals, 2 joined together to form the keel, white, pink, or sometimes purple, in clusters of 3-8 flowers. Flowers all year, mostly in Spring.

Lotus australis var. australis in the ACT.

All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.

PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Lotus~australis (accessed 24 January, 2021)