Cretan bird's-foot trefoil

Lotus creticus is a diffusely branched perennial herb of the legume family (Fabaceae), forming low cushions 30–60 cm tall with a dense, grey-silky appearance from short appressed hairs. The trifoliolate leaves bear fleshy, oblanceolate-cuneate leaflets adapted to drought and salinity. Bright yellow pea-like flowers are borne in axillary umbels of four to eight blooms on long peduncles, the corolla roughly twice as long as the calyx. Pods are linear, 12–18 lines long, splitting to release 9–15 small seeds. Native to coastal regions of the Mediterranean Basin, from Spain and Portugal east to Greece and North Africa, the species colonises maritime sand dunes, saline flats, and rocky shores from sea level to moderate elevations. Like other legumes it forms nitrogen-fixing symbioses (notably with Ensifer numidicus), and is used in revegetation of degraded coastal soils for its drought and salt tolerance.