Serradella

Ornithopus sativus, commonly called serradella or common birdsfoot, is a slender annual herb of the legume family (Fabaceae) native to south-western Europe and north-western Africa, including Portugal, Spain, France, Morocco, and Algeria. The plant has trailing to weakly ascending stems and pinnately compound leaves with numerous small, oblong leaflets. Small pink to white pea-like flowers are borne in small axillary umbels on long peduncles, followed by characteristic jointed (lomentum) pods that resemble a bird's foot — the source of the common name — breaking into one-seeded segments at maturity. The species is cultivated as a high-quality forage and green-manure legume across central and eastern Europe, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, and California, valued for its tolerance of highly acidic and nutrient-poor sandy soils where other legumes fail. Two infraspecific taxa are recognised: subsp. sativus and nothosubsp. macrorrhynchus.