Index / Search / Lotus tenuis

§1 Plant — species · Fabaceae

Lotus tenuis Waldst. & Kit. ex Willd.

vernacular narrowleaf trefoil


USDA
LOTE4
GBIF
7515045
Rank
species
narrowleaf trefoil (Lotus tenuis)
Platephotograph · Jessica Helmbold source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Forb/herb
Duration
Perennial
Group
Dicot
Family
Fabaceae Lindl.
Genus
Lotus
§2a

Native status, by region

  • CAN Canada Introduced
  • L48 Lower 48 States Introduced

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
High
Shade
High
Moisture use
Low
Salinity
Medium
Anaerobic
Medium
CaCO₃
Low
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-21 °F minimum
Frost-free days
160 min.
Precipitation
25–50 in/yr
pH range
4.5–7.9
Root depth
12 in min.
Fertility need
Medium
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Single Crown
Growth rate
Moderate
Lifespan
Short
Mature height
1 ft
Foliage texture
Fine
Foliage colour
Green
Porosity (summer)
Porous
Porosity (winter)
Porous
Flower colour
Yellow
Fruit colour
Brown
Fire resistant
Yes
N fixation
Medium
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Mid Spring
Seed abundance
Medium
Seed begins
Spring
Seed ends
Summer
Spread rate
Slow
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
485,000
Propagation
seed
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Routinely Available
Nursery stock
No
Browse palatability
Medium
Graze palatability
High
Palatable, human
No
Protein potential
High
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Montana distribution

Recorded in 1 of 56 Montana counties.

Introduced · 1 counties

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/LOTE4 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/7515045 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T16:28:53Z