Lotus heermannii (Dur. and Hilg.) Greene
Heermann’s Lotus
Family: Fabaceae
Habit: Perennial, with many prostrate stems 3 to 10 dm. long forming mats.
Distribution: Found on moist banks and canyons below 6000 ft. in washes and riverbanks in coastal sage scrub and foothill chaparral from Sonoma County to San Diego County, California.
Seed unit: 1- to 2-seeded pod; free seed.
Seed: Oblong, curved, greenish to mottled brown with small hilum. Often in pods, one-seeded, villous, arcuate with a long uncurved beak.
Embryo: Foliar, radicle folded, radicle tip at the hilum in the middle of the seed.
Purity instructions: Pure seed definition:
AOSA: PSU#9 - Intact pod, with our without calyx or bracts, whether or not a seed is present. Seed with at least a portion of the seed coat attached. Brocken seed larger than one-half the original size with at least a portion of the seed coat attached.
ISTA: PSD#10 - Seed, with or without testa. Piece of seed larger than one-half the original size, with or without testa.
Average pure seed units per gram: 664 seeds per gram (based on AOSA pure seed units only from 9 samples received for testing from 1997 to 2002).
Range of percent pure seed: 22% to 89%
Range of percent inert: 10% to 77%
Description of inert: Plant material, stone, insects.
Planting instructions: 400 seeds, T, 21 days @ 20°C; for fresh and dormant seed, prechill recommended.
References: (link to main reference page)
Hickman, J.C., Ed. 1993. p. 619
Munz, P.A. and D.D. Keck. 1968. p. 847.
Ransom Seed Laboratory
