Coronilla scorpioides(L.) W.D.J.Koch

yellow crownvetch

WFO wfo-0001054559 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Coronilla scorpioides, photographed by Quentin Groom
fig. a Quentin Groom, CC0 1.0 / 2022-05-17 / obs. 198342525
Coronilla scorpioides, photographed by David Delon
fig. b David Delon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 198187888
Coronilla scorpioides, photographed by Josep Gesti
fig. c Josep Gesti, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 197287582
Coronilla scorpioides, photographed by Abdenour Kheloufi
fig. d Abdenour Kheloufi, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 197889931
Coronilla scorpioides, photographed by Abdenour Kheloufi
fig. e Abdenour Kheloufi, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 197889602
Coronilla scorpioides, photographed by Quentin Groom
fig. f Quentin Groom, CC0 1.0 / obs. 135105597
Coronilla scorpioides, photographed by Rafael Medina
fig. g Rafael Medina, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 135008054
Coronilla scorpioides, photographed by Mehdi Chetibi
fig. h Mehdi Chetibi, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 131829183

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 33 botanical countries

Regions where Coronilla scorpioides is native: Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Western Sahara, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, Palestine, Sinai, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Albania, Baleares, Bulgaria, Corse, France, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Krym, NW. Balkan Pen., Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, Spain, Türkiye-in-Europe AlgeriaEgyptEritreaLibyaMoroccoTunisiaWestern SaharaCyprusEast Aegean Is.IranIraqLebanon-SyriaNorth CaucasusPalestineSinaiTranscaucasusTürkiyeAlbaniaBulgariaCorseFranceGreeceItalyKritiKrymNW. Balkan Pen.PortugalRomaniaSiciliaSpainTürkiye-in-Europe BalearesSardegna
Native distribution of Coronilla scorpioides, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Baleares BAL
Bulgaria BUL
Corse COR
France FRA
Greece GRC
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Krym KRY
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
Spain SPA
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Cyprus CYP ASIA-TEMPERATE
East Aegean Is. EAI
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Lebanon-Syria LBS
North Caucasus NCS
Palestine PAL
Sinai SIN
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Egypt EGY
Eritrea ERI
Libya LBY
Morocco MOR
Tunisia TUN
Western Sahara WSA

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 227 in flower of 286 examined

Peak flowering in Apr. Each bar is the share of Coronilla scorpioides observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 227 of 286 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 7 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 12 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Artrolobium scorpioides (L.) Desv.
  • Artrolobium tauricum Kalen.
  • Aviunculus scorpioides (L.) Fourr.
  • Coronilla scorpioidea St.-Lag.
  • Coronilla trifoliolata Bubani
  • Ornithopodium scorpioides (L.) Scop.
  • Ornithopodium triphyllum Moench
  • Ornithopus compressus Sieber ex Steud.
  • Ornithopus scorpioides L.
  • Ornithopus scorpioides M.Bieb.
  • Ornithopus trifoliatus Lam.
  • Scorpius scorpioides (L.) Medik.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol COSC5. public domain. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.