Lotus Linn., Sp. Pl. 773. 1753. Gen. Pl. ed. 5.338. 1754; Boiss., Fl. Or. 2:163. 1872; Baker in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 2:91. 1876; Ali in Pak. J. Bot. 3:27. 1972 (for 1971).
Annual or perennial, herbs or semishrubs. Leaf pinnately compound; leaflets 5, 3 at the apex and 2 at the base resembling stipules, or the basal leaflets absent, entire. Stipules absent or represented by glands or minute, deciduous. Inflorescence an axillary pedunculate or almost sessile umbel, subtended by 1-3 leafy bracts or flower solitary axillary. Calyx tubular, bilabiate. Corolla yellow, pinkish, red, purple or white, free from stamens, keel pointed or beaked. Stamens diadelphous, 9+1, alternate filaments dilated at the apex. Fruit dehiscent, generally many seeded.
A genus with 60-100 species, most numerous around the Mediterranean, represented in Pakistan by 4 species.
