birdsfoot

Birdsfoot is a common name used for several plants whose leaf shapes or fruit structures resemble a bird’s foot. The term is informal and its exact reference varies by region, but it is most commonly attached to two groups: a legume known as bird’s-foot trefoil and certain members of the Geraniaceae with beak-like fruits.

Bird’s-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) is a small, vigorous perennial legume native to Europe and Asia and now widely naturalized elsewhere. It flowers with bright yellow blooms in late spring to summer and forms low, spreading mats. The plant is valued for soil stabilization, its ability to fix nitrogen, and its use as forage for livestock. It is commonly employed in pasture mixes, roadside stabilization, and erosion-control programs.

In the Geraniaceae, several species including Erodium and Geranium are described as birdsfoot or storksbill because their fruits are long, curved beaks that resemble a bird’s foot or a stork’s bill. The seeds are dispersed when the beak-like fruit dehisces, often by mechanical action or wind, enabling rapid spread in wildflower communities and cultivated gardens.

Etymology and usage notes indicate that the name “birdsfoot” arises from the shared visual resemblance between certain plant parts and a bird’s foot. The term is widely used in regional floras and horticultural literature to describe these morphology-based groupings rather than a single taxonomic classification.