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Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-089
Birdsfoot Trefoil
Lotus corniculatus
Birdsfoot Trefoil is a nitrogen-fixing legume prized among forage growers for one rare trait: it does not cause bloat in grazing ruminants the way clover and alfalfa can. Its condensed tannins also cut methane and ammonia output, and rabbits take it as readily as livestock do. It grows only in the cool season - autumn, winter and spring - and goes fully dormant through summer heat, so a stand typically needs resowing after about two years. Every part contains cyanogenic compounds, but properly cured hay and named low-cyanogen cultivars are safe to feed; only lush, unknown-provenance growth calls for caution.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 4
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Dry · Well-Drained · Moderate
Vertical layer
Herbaceous- Soil pH
- 6.2–7.5
- Plant type
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 12–35 in
- Mature spread
- 20 in
- Plant spacing
- Plant
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- Both
Keep exploring
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Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & H.Ohashi
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African Eggplant
Solanum aethiopicum
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Oryza glaberrima
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Herbaceous
Agrimony
Agrimonia eupatoria
Agrimony is a slender herbaceous perennial of sunny, disturbed ground across Europe and western Asia, grown mainly for the tannin-rich leaves…
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Alfalfa
Medicago sativa
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Aloe Vera
Aloe vera
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Herbaceous · USDA 10–12
The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
- Locked ecological function
- Byproduct
- Locked ecological function
Behind the record
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