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Electronic Flora of South Australia family Fact Sheet

Leguminosae

Alternative names: Fabaceae

Description:
Trees, shrubs or herbs, often trailing or twining, unarmed, rarely spiny; phyllotaxy spiral to distichous; leaves pinnate, digitate, simple or reduced to scales or replaced by phyllodes; stipules usually present at the base of the petiole, stipels occasional on petiolules.

Flowers solitary, racemose or paniculate, rarely umbellate, usually bisexual, regular or zygomorphic, 5-merous, hypogynous; bracts commonly supporting the flower, often caducous; calyx usually with 5 lobes, sepals or teeth, rarely 4 or 3 when joined, basally variously united into a tube; petals usually 5, free or somewhat connate, equal or distinct; stamens usually 10 sometimes less than 10 or numerous, free or variously connate, inserted with the petals at the rim of the receptacle; anthers 2-locular, usually opening by longitudinal slits, uniform or dimorphic; ovary almost always a single superior 2- to many-ovulate carpel, rarely 1-ovulate; ovules attached to the adaxial suture.

Fruit nearly always a dry legume or pod, usually dehiscent into 2 valves, often dehiscent only along the upper suture or indehiscent, occasionally lomentaceous; seed usually with endosperm, often arillate and/or carunculate.

Distribution:  650 genera and 18,000 species, extends in all terrestrial habitats from the equator to the edges of dry and cold deserts of the world.

Biology: No text

Uses: The versatility of the legumes enhances their great economic importance as a food or forage. They fix nitrogen, conserve soils and provide timber, fuel and important legume crops.

Taxonomic notes: "The recognition of 1 family or 3 families within the Leguminales may still be regarded as a matter of opinion, but in general the evidence seems to support the concept of a single family, as few genera are transitional between the 3 major groups" as indicated in Polhill & Raven (1981), Advances in legume systematics pt 1. Their concept is accepted here and their systematic treatment followed.

Key to Genera:
1. Flowers regular (actinomorphic); stamens usually numerous; petals valvate, equal; embryo straight
Subfamily 2. MIMOSOIDEAE
1. Flowers irregular (zygomorphic); stamens l0 or fewer; petals imbricate; embryo straight or curved
 
2. Flowers slightly irregular; stamens 10 or fewer, free; petals subequal, free; adaxial petal overlapped by adjacent lateral petals, abaxial petals overlapping; embryo straight
Subfamily 1. CAESALPINIOIDEAE
2. Flowers very irregular; stamens 10, often united; petals unequal, more or less united; adaxial petal (standard) outside the adjacent lateral petals (wings), abaxial petals (keel) valvate, conduplicate, often connate; embryo curved
Subfamily 3. PAPILIONOIDEAE
SUBFAMILY 1.--CAESALPINIOIDEAE
 
1. Leaves bipinnate
PARKINSONIA 1.
1. Leaves pinnate, lobed or reduced to phyllodes
 
2. Leaflets 2, 1-2 cm broad
LYSIPHYLLUM 4.
2. Leaflets 0 or 4 or more, if 2 then less than 1 cm broad
 
3. Style small, terete; stamens 10, rarely 7 or 6; anthers usually unequal
CASSIA 2.
3. Style large, petal-like; stamens 5, 2 of them barren
PETALOSTYLIS 3.
SUBFAMILY 2.--MIMOSOIDEAE
 
1. Stamen filaments free
 
2. Trees or shrubs; stamens 10 or more
 
3. Stamens more than 10
ACACIA 7.
3. Stamens 10
PROSOPIS 6.
2. Perennial herb; stamens 5
NEPTUNIA 5.
1. Stamen filaments united basally into a tube
ALBIZIA 8.
SUBFAMILY 3.--PAPILIONOIDEAE
 
1. All 10 stamens free, filaments rarely slightly connected at the base
GROUP 2. PAPILIONOIDEAE.
1. Stamens variously united by their filaments (10, 9 +l, 5 +5) in a sheath or tube around the ovary
 
2. Staminal tube monadelphous, filaments completely or at least in the lower part completely closed round the ovary (10); anthers alternately longer and basifixed and shorter and dorsifixed (versatile); or the staminal tube split open adaxially facing the standard
GROUP 3. PAPILIONOIDEAE.
2. Staminal tube diadelphous; upper adaxial stamen facing the standard, free, the other 9 united by their filaments in a tube around the ovary (9 + 1), or the tube split open on the upper and lower side of the ovary being in 2 series of 5 stamens each (5 + 5)
GROUP 1. PAPILIONOIDEAE.
GROUP 1. PAPILIONOIDEAE.
 
1. Leaves and leaflets not toothed, principal lateral veins of the leaves or leaflets anastomosing and not reaching the margin, sometimes obscure; leaves sometimes caducous or reduced to a spine-tipped phyllode
 
2. Filaments forming 2 series of 5 stamens each (5 + 5), split open on the standard and keel side; pod constricted between the seeds, lomentaceous
AESCHYNOMENE 22.
2. The upper adaxial stamen facing the standard free, 9 stamens united by their filaments into a sheath around the ovary (9 +1); pod dehiscent or indehiscent but not lomentaceous
 
3. Pod moniliform but not lomentaceous; spiny shrubs
 
4. Leaves simple; keel fully developed, housing the stamens; pod 3- or 4-seeded
ALHAGI 23.
4. Leaves 3-foliolate; keel minute, shorter than the stamens; pod 1- or 2-seeded
ERYTHRINA 14.
3. Pod 2-valved, dehiscent or indehiscent, dorsiventral constriction between the seeds minute or absent
 
5. Anther connective appendiculate; standard hairy
INDIGOFERA 12.
5. Anther connective not appendiculate; standard usually glabrous
 
6. Leaf lamina glandular-punctate or glandular-hairy
 
7. Leaves glandular-hairy
VIGNA 20.
7. Leaves glandular-punctate
 
8. Leaflets 3
 
9. Ovary 1-ovulate; pod indehiscent; shrubs, subshrubs or herbs
PSORALEA 21.
9. Ovary 2-ovulate; pod dehiscent; trailing or twining herbs
RHYNCHOSIA 19.
8. Leaflets 5 or more
 
10. Leaflets linear; pod included in the calyx, with rough texture
PSORALEA 21.
10. Leaflets ovate-lanceolate; pod exserted, with hooked prickles
GLYCYRRHIZA 26.
6. Leaf lamina not glandular
 
11. Leaves simple, imparipinnate, or absent
 
12. Leaflets 1 or 3 only
 
13. Calyx-teeth 4 (the upper 2 united, all lanceolate and longer than the tube); peduncle below the flower-cluster thickened and nodose
GALACTIA 15.
13. Calyx-teeth 5 (subequal or various); peduncle not nodose
 
14. Leaflet 1
HARDENBERGIA 17.
14. Leaflets 3
 
15. Calyx glabrous except for the ciliate margins
DIPOGON 13.
15. Calyx pubescent
 
16. Style bearded along the inner margin; style-tip with hair-tufts behind the stigma
SWAINSONA 28.
16. Style and stigma glabrous
 
17. Flowers 6-9 mm long; pod with pithy partitions between the seeds; seed with a scale-like papery appendage
GLYCINE 16.
17. Flowers 10-25 mm long; pod septate; seed with a fleshy appendage
KENNEDIA 18.
12. Leaflets 3 or more
 
18. Leaflets 5, lower pair of leaflets stipule-like, remote from the 3 proximate upper ones; of 5 alternate stamens the filaments dilated at the summit
LOTUS 29.
18. Leaflets usually more than 5 (rarely 3), if 5 the lower pair not resembling stipules
 
19. Stipules becoming 2 stout spines
ROBINIA 10.
19. Stipules leafy or leathery but never spines
 
20. Style bearded along the inner margin; pod usually inflated, bladdery
 
21. Flowers less than 2 cm long; petals subequal, obtuse
SWAINSONA 28.
21. Flowers more than 2 cm long, red; wings 2-4 times shorter than the keel; petals subacute
 
22. Flowers more than 4 cm long; wings about half as long as the ovate standard; prostrate annual herbs
CLIANTHUS 25.
22. Flowers c. 3 cm long, wings hyaline, c. 4 times shorter than the keel or narrow standard; hairy shrub with silvery pods
SUTHERLANDIA 27.
20. Style not bearded
 
23. Standard narrow, glabrous; hairs medifixed; seed triangular or reniform, rugulose, pitted
ASTRAGALUS 24.
23. Standard orbicular, pubescent; hairs basifixed; seed subglobose, smooth
TEPHROSIA 9.
11. Leaves paripinnate, rhachis ending in a fine point or tendrils
 
24. Leaf rhachis ending in a fine point; pod linear, 10-20 cm long, more than 20-seeded
SESBANIA 11.
24. Leaf rhachis ending in tendrils; pod 2-10 cm long, less than 10-seeded
 
25. Leaflets 2; stipules large, leafy, semisagittate
LATHYRUS 30.
25. Leaflets 4 or more; stipules small, triangular- lanceolate
VICIA 31.
1. Leaves trifoliolate, toothed; principal lateral veins of the leaflets terminating in the margin; upper stamen free, lower 9 united (9 + 1); chiefly introduced herbs
 
26. Calyx throat with 2-lipped callosities or a ring of hairs; pod inserted in the calyx; all or 5 filaments of the stamens dilated at the apex; flowers usually more than 10 in dense globular or cylindrical heads
TRIFOLIUM 34.
26. Calyx throat open; pod exceeding the calyx; filaments not dilated at the apex
 
27. Pod spirally curved or coiled, rarely short and falcate and then the plants not strong-smelling; cotyledons articulated; flowers in clusters of 1-5 in ovoid heads or racemes on the slender peduncle
MEDICAGO 32.
27. Pod straight or falcate; plants usually strong-smelling; cotyledons not articulated
 
28. Pod subglobose or ovoid, straight, indehiscent; flowers numerous (to 50), drooping in slender and elongate racemes
MELILOTUS 33.
28. Pod linear, curved, dehiscent; flowers 1-8, in erect or sub-sessile axillary cluster
TRIGONELLA 35.
GROUP 2. PAPILIONOIDEAE.
 
1. Flowering stem leafy
 
2. Leaves opposite, decussate
 
3. Stipules absent; leaves linear-lanceolate, glabrous
EUTAXIA 39.
3. Stipules present; leaves oblong-ovate, pubescent below
 
4. Leaves 3-8 cm long
GASTROLOBIUM 40.
4. Leaves less than 1 cm long
PULTENAEA 45.
2. Leaves alternate or whorled
 
5. Ovules 2
 
6. Stipules present
PULTENAEA 45.
6. Stipules absent
Leguminosae
7. Leaves with recurved or revolute margins
 
8. Bracteoles present
PHYLLOTA 44.
8. Bracteoles absent
AOTUS 36.
7. Leaves grooved above by the involute margins or replaced by leaf-like flat phyllodes
 
9. Leaves grooved above by the involute margins
DILLWYNIA 38.
9. Leaves replaced by leaf-like phyllodes, flattened horizontally
DAVIESIA 37.
5. Ovules 4 or more
 
10. Leaves trifoliolate; calyx glabrous outside, dark-coloured
GOMPHOLOBIUM 41.
10. Leaves simple; calyx pubescent
ISOTROPIS 42.
1. Flowering stem leafless (leaves reduced to scales or spines or to long filiform petioles)
 
11. Flowers more than 3 cm long, in short basal racemes; standard narrow or narrow-ovate
LEPTOSEMA 43.
11. Flowers less than 1 cm long, axillary, solitary or in axillary racemes; standard broad (suborbicular)
 
12. Calyx-teeth subequal, short; flowers solitary, axillary or in short axillary racemes
 
13. Flowers solitary, axillary; pod sessile, obovoid, black
VIMINARIA 47.
13. Flowers in short axillary racemes; pod triangular, compressed, stipitate
DAVIESIA 37.
12. Upper 2 calyx-teeth broad, falcate, united higher up to form an upper lip; flowers few to several, in clusters or whorls along the stem
 
14. Branches less than 1 mm thick; flowers 1-4
SPHAEROLOBIUM 46.
14. Branches more than 1 mm thick; flowers several, in axillary racemes
DAVIESIA 37.
GROUP 3. PAPILIONOIDEAE.
 
1. Staminal tube completely closed round the ovary (anthers versatile)
 
2. Leaves 3-foliolate or digirately compound of more than 3 leaflets (palmate)
 
3. Branches and leaves spiny; flowers yellow
ULEX 61.
3. Branches and leaves not spiny
 
4. Leaves palmate, 7-11-foliolate
LUPINUS 58.
4. Leaves 3-foliolate
 
5. Upper calyx-lip shortly 2-toothed, with a shallow notch between the obtuse inconspicuous teeth
CYTISUS 56.
5. Upper calyx-lip long and deeply 2-toothed, teeth triangular, deeply divided
GENISTA 57.
2. Leaves simple or absent at maturity
 
6. Flowers 8-10 mm long, white; calyx 2-lipped, caducous
RETAMA 59.
6. Flowers 20-30 mm long, yellow; calyx I-lipped, persistent
SPARTIUM 60.
1. Staminal tube split open on the side facing the standard
 
7. Anthers uniform; pod flattened
 
8. Leaves of 3-11 leaflets
 
9. Leaves digitately 3-foliolate; stipules ovate; stem prostrate
MUELLERANTHUS 51.
9. Leaflets 5-11; stipules narrow-triangular; stem erect
PTYCHOSEMA 53.
8. Leaves simple, 1-foliolate or absent
 
10. Leaves alternate or absent, rarely some opposite; flowers pedicellate; petals glabrescent; pod not winged, dehiscent by both sutures
BOSSIAEA 48.
10. Leaves opposite, lamina with 3 or more pungent points flowers sessile; petals velutinous; pod winged dorsally, dehiscent by the lower suture only
PLATYLOBIUM 52.
7. Anthers dimorphic; pod flattened or not
 
11. Keel acute or beaked; pod inflated; seed not arillate
CROTALARIA 55.
11. Keel obtuse; pod flattened (except in Hovea); seed arillate
 
12. Leaves petiolate, with 3 leaflets; flowers yellow; pod long-stipitate
GOODIA 49.
12. Leaves simple, subsessile or absent
 
13. Leaves lanceolate, hoary beneath; flowers blue; pod turgid, scarcely longer than broad
HOVEA 50.
13. Leaves obovate or linear or reduced to scales; flowers yellow, red or purplish; pod flattened, longer than broad
TEMPLETONIA 54.

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