Scorpion-vetch

Coronilla coronata, sometimes called scorpion-vetch or crown vetch (sensu lato), is a perennial herb of the Fabaceae family native to southern and south-central Europe, including the Alps, Apennines and Balkans. It typically grows 30 to 70 cm tall, forming clumps of erect, glabrous, slightly glaucous stems. The pinnately compound leaves bear 5 to 11 oblong to obovate, glaucous-green leaflets, the lowest pair situated very close to the stem and often appearing stipule-like. Showy umbels of 10 to 20 bright yellow papilionaceous flowers, each about 1 cm long, are borne on long axillary peduncles in early to mid summer. The fruit is a slender, longitudinally ribbed lomentum that breaks into 1-seeded segments at maturity. The species occupies dry calcareous grasslands, scrub margins and open woodlands. Like other Coronilla species, it contains cardiac glycosides and is toxic to livestock and humans.