Family: Fabaceae Hippocrepis comosa     *     Horse-shoe Vetch Flowering time: April - July. Perennial Habitat: Species-rich short calcareous grasslands and cliffs. Most frequent in the south of England, rare in Wales, absent from Scotland and Ireland. Flowerheads with whorls of 5-8 clear yellow flowers followed by sinuous seedpods which break into horseshoe-shaped segments. Pinnate leaves have 4-5 pairs of side leaflets, terminal leaflet, 2 stipules but no tendrils. Height 5-20cm. The only food plant for caterpillars of Adonis Blue Similar: Common Bird's-foot-trefoil, Lotus corniculatus. Very similar flowers but the leaves have only 3 leaflets and 2 stipules.

Horse-shoe Vetch, Hippocrepis comosa and Adonis Blue, Lysandra bellargus
The Purbecks, Dorset. August 2008