Common Name: LEGUME FAMILY
Habit: Annual to tree. Leaf: generally alternate, generally compound, generally stipuled, generally entire, pinnately veined Inflorescence: generally raceme, spike, umbel or head; or flowers 1--few in axils. Flower: generally bisexual, generally bilateral; hypanthium 0 or flat to tubular; sepals generally 5, generally fused; petals generally 5, free, fused, or lower 2 +- united into keel (see 3, Key to Groups, for banner, wings); stamens 10 or many (or [1], 5, 6, 7, 9), free or fused or 10 with 9 filaments at least partly fused, 1 (uppermost) free; pistil 1, ovary superior, generally 1-chambered, ovules 1--many, style, stigma 1. Fruit: legume, including a stalk-like base (above receptacle) or not. Seed: 1--many, often +- reniform, generally hard, smooth.
Genera In Family: +- 730 genera, 19400 species: worldwide; with grasses, requisite in agriculture, most natural ecosystems. Many cultivated, most importantly Arachis, peanut; Glycine, soybean; Phaseolus, beans; Medicago, alfalfa; Trifolium, clovers; many orns. Note: Unless stated otherwise, fruit length including stalk-like base, number of 2° leaflets is per 1° leaflet. Upper suture of fruit adaxial, lower abaxial. Anthyllis vulneraria L. evidently a waif, a contaminant of legume seed from Europe. Laburnum anagyroides Medik., collected on Mount St. Helena in 1987, may be naturalized. Ceratonia siliqua L., carob tree (Group 2), differs from Gleditsia triacanthos L. in having evergreen (vs deciduous) leaves that are 1-pinnate (vs 1-pinnate on spurs on old stems, 2-pinnate on new stems) with 2--5(8) (vs 7--17) 1° leaflets, commonly cultivated, now naturalized in southern California. Aeschynomene rudis Benth. , Halimodendron halodendron (Pall.) Voss (possibly extirpated), Lens culinaris Medik. are agricultural weeds. Caragana arborescens Lam. only cult. Ononis alopecuroides L. , Sphaerophysa salsula (Pall.) DC. all evidently extirpated. Cercidium moved to Parkinsonia; Chamaecytisus to Cytisus; Psoralidium lanceolatum to Ladeania.
eFlora Treatment Author: Martin F. Wojciechowski, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Martin F. Wojciechowski, Thomas J. Rosatti.

Common Name: LUPINE
Habit: Annual to shrub; cotyledons generally petioled, withering early. Stem: generally erect. Leaf: palmately compound [or not], generally cauline; stipules fused to petiole; leaflets 3--17, generally oblanceolate, entire. Inflorescence: raceme, flowers spiraled or whorled, occasionally also in lower leaf axils; bracts generally deciduous. Flower: calyx 2-lipped, lobes entire or toothed, generally appendaged between; corolla blue, purple, white, or yellow, banner glabrous to densely hairy, centrally grooved, sides reflexed, wing tips +- fused, keel generally beaked; stamens 10, filaments fused, 5 long with short anthers, 5 short with long anthers; style brush-like. Fruit: dehiscent, generally oblong. Seed: 2--12, generally smooth.
Species In Genus: +- 220 species: especially western North America, western South America to eastern United States, also tropical South America, Mediterranean to western Asia, eastern tropical Africa; some cultivated for fodder, green manure, edible seed, ornamental. Etymology: (Latin: wolf, from mistaken idea that plants rob soil of nutrients) Toxicity: Some (e.g., Lupinus arboreus, Lupinus latifolius, Lupinus leucophyllus) have alkaloids (especially in seeds, fruits, young herbage) TOXIC to livestock (especially sheep). Note: Inflorescence length excludes peduncle; some California species naturalized in eastern North America, South America, Australia, southern Africa.
eFlora Treatment Author: Teresa Sholars