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.

Habit: Shrub, [small tree], unarmed. Stem: often ribbed, green, to 5 m. Leaf: 1-compound (generally ternate), generally alternate, petioled; stipules free or 0. Inflorescence: generally terminal racemes, or axillary, peduncled clusters of 1--4(7) flowers. Flower: calyx bell-shaped to cylindric, 2-lipped, upper lip +- 2-lobed, lower generally 3-lobed; petals 5, generally yellow or white, generally not hairy, keel oblong-sickle-shaped to +- 1/2 circular (curve abaxial), claw +- 1/4 keel; stamens 10, filaments fused; style generally abruptly curved at +- middle or gently curved +- throughout. Fruit: dehiscent, generally oblong, papery to +- leathery; pedicel short. Seed: few to many, generally arilled.
Etymology: (Greek: name for several woody Fabaceae) Note: Chamaecytisus (30 species) often segregated but recent work (Cristofolini 1991 Webbia 45:187--219; Cubas et al. 2002 Plant Syst Evol 233:223--244) supports treatment as 1 monophyletic group.
eFlora Treatment Author: Martin F. Wojciechowski
Unabridged Reference: Polhill 1976 Bot Syst 1:143--368