(near Hawkwood College, Stroud, Glos., June 2011)
This one - Lotus Corniculatus - belongs to the Pea Family or Fabaceae (latin origin of the Spanish Fabas!) which is also known as Leguminosae, Bean Family or Pulse Family. In this case the seeds aren't eaten as legumes but the herb is used for pasture.
The flower is zygomorphic - from the greek zygon (yoke) + morphic (having a shape). It means the flowers are bilaterally symmetrical: they can be divided by a single plane into two-mirror image halves like a yoke.
Corniculatus comes from corniculum which means small horn, hence the horn-like names for this plant in the romance languages.
(French: Lotier Corniculé , Spanish: Cuernecillo, Portuguese: Cornichão, German: Wiesen Schotenklee)
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