Ononis pusilla

Ononis pusilla is a low-growing perennial subshrub or wiry herb of the Fabaceae family forming small tufts or mats 5-20 cm high from a slender woody taproot. Stems are numerous, ascending to decumbent, finely ribbed and densely covered with short glandular hairs that render the whole plant somewhat sticky and aromatic; stems are unarmed in contrast to several of its more familiar congeners. Leaves are alternate and trifoliolate with sessile, narrowly obovate to oblanceolate leaflets 4-10 mm long, sharply serrate towards the apex and finely glandular-pubescent; conspicuous foliaceous stipules clasp the stem. Flowers are borne singly or in pairs in the upper leaf axils on slender pedicels and are typical pea-flowers with a pale yellow standard sometimes marked with reddish-brown veining, lateral wings and a keel; the calyx is bell-shaped with five long narrow lobes. Pods are short, ovoid, glandular-hairy and contain one to several small kidney-shaped seeds. Native to dry, sunny, calcareous slopes, garrigue and stony grasslands of the Mediterranean basin and adjacent submediterranean Europe, flowering through late spring and early summer.