Botanical name: Lotus corniculatus
Folk names: Eggs and bacon, goblin’s fingers

Type: Perennial

Wildlife: Caterpillar food plant for butterflies including the common blue, and moths including the six-spot burnet and chalk carpet moths. Nectar and protein-rich pollen for bumblebees, butterflies and the six-spot burnet moth. Favoured by the wool carder bee too (see One Garden Against the World by Kate Bradbury). Supports numerous species of insect.

Flowers: June to August

Decorative merit: Bright yellow, pea-like flowers, often tinted with orange and brown. Three-lobed leaves. Gently sprawling, forming mats (good for filling gaps) for 30cm or so, becoming more upright near the tip.

Where: Sun or shade. Middle of borders, mini meadows, longer lawn areas (tolerates mowing), containers, and dry gravel gardens where it will be a good companion for lamb’s ear (and a help to the wool carder bee). Good for coastal gardens. Happy in well-drained soil (add grit or sand if you like). Long tap-root allows it to draw on deep water supplies. Make the most of its drought tolerance. Stems will sprawl when you leave them over winter, so keep in mind if planting near a path or border edge.

Folklore: One of the plants woven into protective wreaths on midsummer’s night. Victorian nature writer Richard Jefferies described it as ‘a picture of summer’.

Pea family relative of red and white clover.

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