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: BROOM
Habit: Shrub, spiny or unarmed; generally deciduous. Stem: generally ribbed or angled, green. Leaf: generally alternate, ternately 1-compound or simple, petioled; stipules fused to leaf bases (0). Inflorescence: axillary or terminal, racemes, heads, or flowers in clusters on short-shoots. Flower: bilateral; calyx generally < corolla, 2-lipped, upper 2-lobed, lobes +- 1/2 tube, lower generally 3-toothed, < upper lobes; petals 5, generally yellow, banner generally ovate or rounded, outside generally glabrous or variously hairy, keel narrowly oblong to obtuse, +- straight abaxially, often silky-hairy; stamens 10, filaments fused; style +- abruptly bent at tip. Fruit: generally dehiscent, narrowly oblong, compressed, or curved, +- inflated; pedicel < 7 mm. Seed: 1--several-seeded, generally arilled.
Etymology: (Latin: from planta genista, from which English Plantagenet monarchs took their name) Note: Generic circumscription difficult, but Pardo et al. (2004 Plant Syst Evol 244:93--119) suggest recognizing Genista in broad sense (i.e., including Retama, Teline, Ulex). Many naturalized California plants are hybrids involving Genista canariensis, Genista monspessulana, and Genista stenopetala Webb & Berthel. (native of Canary Islands; not in California in pure form), although determining parentage in generally often difficult.
eFlora Treatment Author: Martin F. Wojciechowski
Unabridged Reference: Gibbs & Dingwall 1971 Bol Soc Brot 45:269--316