Bacon-and-eggs

. . . . or Bird's-Foot Trefoil

 

 

This little flower has over 70 folk names according to the Reader's Digest Field Guide to the Wild Flowers of Britain, based on either the form of the flower or the shape of the three-toed seed pods. 

 

My mother used to call it 'Tom Thumb' and I have heard 'bacon-and-eggs' (because it sometimes has a reddish tint on the petals) and 'crow's toes' (from the seed pods, which you may be able to see beginning to form to the right of the flower in my photo).

 

Each leaf has a trefoil at the top i.e three leaflets, and then two more leaflets lower down