Identification help for flower?

[2-Wheeler]

I've got this weed growing in the natural parts of my lawn every spring and the bees seem to like it, so I've been letting it spread. This year we have a bumper crop. Does any know what this little yellow flower is? 



The plant grows low to the ground but the camera angle makes it look bigger. At most it gets about 10-12" tall.

[qa33010]

   I could guess and say, maybe some type of buckwheat.  Do you have a larger picture of one or more of the blooms?

[KONASDAD]

looks like missouri primrose. Some people call them "sundrops" Vey agressive spreader and bees like it. Does it bloom by day and close at night?


http://www.grownative.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=plants.plantDetail&plant_id=38

heres alink to look at

[doak]

My buck wheat blooms white.
Looks like it may be in the "Day Lilly" family, or some type of Yarrow.
I'll look in my book.
doak

[doak]

Believe KONASDAD is correct. What the book looks like.
doak

[qa33010]

Sorry, the plant I was looking at was a Sulfur Buckwheat, which is a yellow bloom and the foliage is more of a grey-green.  The next page in the notebook has sundrops.  Sorry I got on the wrong tangent.

   I'm trying to keep them in color then alphabetical order.

[2-Wheeler]

Thanks for the replies. It's probably not the Missouri Primrose. The blossom shape is different. It sort of looks more like a snap-dragon.  Here is a blurry close-up, but you can see the asymmetrical blossom. 

<a href="http://s150.photobucket.com/albums/s93/2-Wheeler/?action=view&current=IMG_1502.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s93/2-Wheeler/IMG_1502.jpg>[/url]

I'll try to get a better picture soon.  I'm thinking that it might be Lotus corniculatus "bird's-foot trefoil" or "Birdfoot Deervetch". Some sites say it is invasive, and other sites say it is a useful grazing plant.

For example:
http://www.invasive.org/browse/subject.cfm?sub=5949

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=LOCO6
I couldn't find anything about it on the Colorado Extension site, so maybe I've got the biggest crop in the state

[qa33010]

     That closeup does help and I think you've got it!

   I just wasted your time.

[Scadsobees]

I think you are correct as well.  I've been seeing a lot of it around here, thanks for reminding me what it is!

It is one of those useful grazing plants that is non-native and invasive.  It's in the same category as white and yellow sweet clover.  I think a good honey producer.

Rick

[2-Wheeler]

Better late than never... Here is a decent close-up to close the loop on this mystery solved:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbroberg/2632788534/" >[/url]
Lotus corniculatus with honeybee (and friend?)

[Cindi]

David, oooh, now get a load of that picture, what a shining star!!!  Have a great and most wonderful day, Cindi

[poka-bee]

David, that pic is priceless.  Looks like they are "huh"?? Great!  Jody

[2-Wheeler]

Thanks poka-bee and Cindi. I'm going to continue to cultivate this stuff. The bees, the butterflies and the bumblebees all seem to love it.

I could probably collect some seeds in a few weeks if anyone is interested.

[Cindi]

David,  I will sow these seeds in the next year, count me in.  That is the beautiful day, enjoy that beautiful day, Cindi

[2-Wheeler]

Here is another photo, showing the plant without blooms for identification:



I have found that if you let it go to seed, it the plant expends its energy making the seeds and once they dry up, they are finished for the season. However if you continue to cut it with the lawn mower (at highest setting) about every 2-3 weeks during the summer, it will continue to re-bloom all summer. 

BTW, this plant also seems to like the climate in Switzerland. Here is another wonderful photo of the flower in Switzerland that someone else posted on Flickr, apparently the same species:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/buntekuh/2725654116/

[Nelly]

What a pretty picture! Thanks for sharing the name of the plant.  I'll have to look into whether it can be used with livestock.

Nelly

[Cindi]

OK, got a little story to tell here.  David, aka 2-Wheeler, sent me some seeds of the Birdsfoot Trefoil.  I am going to find a place to sow them on my property.

When I was weeding part of the garden infront of the apiary, I was looking at this ding dang weed that is just so invasive, I have been pulling it out all the time.  I don't want this weed growing in this particular spot, imagine that.  I let the weed grow on other parts of my property, but I don't want it invading bee plant territory.  I was looking at the weed closely, I had not noticed before that it had pretty, teeny tiny yellow flowers on it.  The flower looked like the flower that was in this thread, but much smaller.  This weed that grows here is a flat, sprawling plant and can get very big in that sprawling manner.  I have not noticed it growing tall, only sprawling.  I looked and looked at the other plants around that are away from this area and narry a bee on any of them.  I think they are too busy with the hyssops and sea holly.

I am thinking that this may be a cousin to the Birdsfoot Trefoil, because judging by the pictures that David had put in this thread, the Birdsfoot Trefoil that grows at his house has flowers that stand erect above the plant.  Is this how this Trefoil grows in the places where you all have it growing.  I would love to see/hear clearer identification of what the Birdsfoot Trefoil looks like.  I have looked on the internet, but didn't get a great grasp of how it compares in size to other plants.  Have the most beautiful and wonderful day, Cindi

The plant that grows on my property:  perhaps a species of Birdsfoot Trefoil

[MrILoveTheAnts]

Could you dig one up and tell us if you find peanuts among the roots.
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/senior/fruits/images/large/peanutflower.jpg

[Cindi]

MILTA.  Now that is a very interesting comment you have here.  Last summer I sent pics of this plant to a gardening forum I belong to.  No one could ident the plant, I think the picture was not too clear for them to see.  Someone said that it was probably in the legume family (what the blazes ever that means, hee, hee), I think legumes are like beans or something.  Anyways......yes, I let one of the plants keep on growing in the bee garden infront of the apiary, it will be much bigger now than when I took that picture.  I will dig it up, I don't want it there anyways, I just left it so I could take another picture if needed.  I'll check to see if there are any kind of nodules along the roots, like peanuts, but I don't think that there ever has been, that I have noticed when ripping these plants out.  I will dig it up when the rain stops, man we have had rain for days now.  I think summer has gone by the wayside, and that is a royal bummer.....have the most wonderful and awesomely great day, Cindi

[2-Wheeler]

Cindi,
I think you've got the same plant voluntarily! It seems to be pervasive. I was on a trip to Northern Wisconsin last week and saw some growing in the lawns.  I've also seen pictures of it in the mountains of Switzerland. It is very small and grows very low to the ground as you describe. Take a look back at the picture in the 2nd post before yours that shows the ruler for scale. Also the very first (blurry) picture I posted shows the same leaf structure as your photo. I think it is the same plant.

Your's may have some local genetic variation, but seems to be the same species. The "peanutflower" has a very different petal structure and leaf design and should be easily distinguishable from the pictures. 

Don't kill what you have, cultivate it in some other area where it can be happy.  During the usual dearth of July, this hearty little flower keeps on going all summer and gives the bees something to draw from when they otherwise have little or nothing. By fall there may be too much competition for them to notice unless you have large quantities of it.  
Enjoy.