Lotus \Lo"tus\, n. [L. lotus, Gr. ?. Cf. Lote.]

1. (Bot.)
   (a) A name of several kinds of water lilies; as Nelumbium speciosum, used in religious ceremonies, anciently in Egypt, and to this day in Asia; Nelumbium luteum, the American lotus; and Nymph[ae]a Lotus and N. c[ae]rulea, the respectively white-flowered and blue-flowered lotus of modern Egypt, which, with Nelumbium speciosum, are figured on its ancient monuments.
   (b) The lotus of the lotuseaters, probably a tree found in Northern Africa, Sicily, Portugal, and Spain (Zizyphus Lotus), the fruit of which is mildly sweet. It was fabled by the ancients to make strangers who ate of it forget their native country, or lose all desire to return to it.
   (c) The lote, or nettle tree. See Lote.
   (d) A genus (Lotus) of leguminous plants much resembling clover. [Written also lotos.]

European lotus, a small tree (Diospyros Lotus) of Southern Europe and Asia; also, its rather large bluish black berry, which is called also the date plum.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Bird's-foot \Bird's"-foot`\, n. (Bot.) A papilionaceous plant, the Ornithopus, having a curved, cylindrical pod tipped with a short, clawlike point.

Bird's-foot trefoil. (Bot.)
   (a) A genus of plants (Lotus) with clawlike pods. L. corniculatas, with yellow flowers, is very common in Great Britain.
   (b) the related plant, Trigonella ornithopodioides, is also European.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)