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Ornithopus sativus
Also called Serradella, French Serradella, Seradella, Pink Flower Serradella, Common Birdsfoot
Common bird's-foot, or serradella, is a small annual legume grown mainly as a forage and green manure crop, especially on acidic, nutrient-poor sandy soils. Its name comes from the bird's-foot-shaped clusters of seed pods.
Ornithopus sativus, the serradella, pink serradella or common birdsfoot, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae. It is native to Southwestern Europe and Northwest Africa in Portugal, western Spain, northern Morocco and Algeria, and southwestern France and has been introduced as a legume forage to many locations around the world, including most of central and eastern Europe, Turkey, the Caucasus, the Azores, South Africa, Kenya, Java, most of Australia, the North Island of New Zealand, southern Chile, and California. It is known for producing a high‑quality forage in highly acidic, nutrient‑poor soils. Its name derives from the birdsfoot-shaped cluster of pods.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Ornithopus sativus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
