FABACEAE  

Unarmed deciduous trees, rarely shrubby. Leaves imparipinnate; leaflets alternate or rarely subopposite, oblong, shortly stalked, many-jugate, with many pellucid dots or streaks; stipules caducous. Flowers bisexual, sometimes male, in short, axillary racemes; bracts persistent. Calyx with campanulate tube, 3-lobed. Petals 0. Stamens many (+/- 23-126), arising in throat of calyx tube; filaments connate towards base; anthers small, dorsifixed, dehiscing by longitudinal slits; connective glandular apically. Ovary on long stalk, ellipsoid, with 2-few ovules; style with terminal, simple stigma. Fruit stalked, drupaceous, ellipsoid to subglobose, sometimes as large as a tennis ball, yellow when ripe, 1- or 2-seeded. Seeds large, thin-walled, not arillate. x= 10 (1 report).

Trees, shrubs, perennial or annual herbs. Leaves paripinnate; extrafloral nectaries often present on petioles and sometimes on axis of racemes, when present patelliform, scutiform or cupular, secretory surface plane or concave. Inflorescence a 1-many-flowered raceme, usually axillary; pedicels 2-bracteolate near or above middle. Flowers bisexual, irregular. Petals yellow, sometimes red-marked near claw, often highly heteromorphic, 2 abaxial ones variously oblique, vexillar one usually interior in bud, sometimes exterior on one or both sides. Stamens (2-)5-10, the basifixed anthers longer than their short filament, equal or unequal, but if unequal not accrescent towards abaxial side of flower, lateral sutures incurved puberulent or pilosulous, dehiscence apical by pore or short slit. Pod plano-compressed, very rarely winged along sutures, elastically dehiscent, valves papery, leathery or subligneous, coiling. Seeds either smooth or pitted. x= 8.

Unarmed trees. Leaves simply paripinnate; leaflets frequently 5-12-jugate; stipules various, conspicuous. Inflorescence an axillary, many-flowered raceme, sometimes cauliflorous; bracteoles 2, at base of pedicels. Sepals obtuse, pubescent to glabrescent. Petals 5, imbricate, subisomorphic, vexillar one interior in bud, usually much larger than calyx, sometimes clawed. Stamens 10, sometimes unequal, its members strongly accrescent towards abaxial side of flower; filaments twice to many times as long as the dorsifixed anthers, those of 3 long abaxial stamens sigmoidally arcuate, those of the rest straight; anthers dehiscing by terminal or basal pores, or at both ends. Ovary sessile or stalked, frequently curved, with several to many ovules; style with terminal, truncate stigma. Pod terete, bluntly tetragonal or compressed-tetragonal, sometimes sulcate along sutures, or compressed but turgid, usually much elongate, indehiscent, valves firmly papery, leathery or ligneous, cavity divided by transverse septa into 1 rank or in addition by a longitudinal septum into 2 ranks of 1-seeded locules. Seeds transverse, occasionally oblique or longitudinal, +/- compressed parallel to septa. x= 6, 7, 8, 9, 13 (B-chromosomes, high polyploidy).

Shrubs or small trees. Leaves imparipinnate with 3-many pairs of leaflets, pulvinate; stipules small; leaflets frequently mucronate, exstipellate. Flowers yellow in few- to many-flowered, axillary or terminal racemes, frequently in panicles. Calyx with campanulate tube, 5-lobed, with 2 upper lobes smallest and partly connate. Petals: vexillum clawed, with claw deeply channelled and limb reflexed and bilobed; wings clawed, oblong, obtuse; keel clawed, obtuse. Stamens free or connate at base; anthers small, oblong. Ovary stalked, several-ovuled; style arcuate, with small, capitate stigma. Pod usually broadly linear, sometimes with a narrow wing on ventral suture, tipped with the remains of style. Seeds compressed, ovate-oblong, with small hilum near the narrow end; radicle incurved. x= 9.

Erect shrubs or shrublets with adpressed or slightly spreading silky pubescence. Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate; leaflets elliptic to lanceolate, resinous-glandular on lower surface; stipules small. Flowers yellow or lined with purple, in terminal panicles together with several subcapitate axillary racemes; bracts ovate, caducous. Calyx 5-lobed; lobes subequal, upper pair joined. Petals: vexillum orbicular, reflexed, eared; keel incurved at apex. Stamens with uniform anthers. Ovary subsessile, elongate, 4-6-ovuled, velvety hairy; style thickened above, flattened below the small, capitate stigma. Pod linear-oblong, inflated, obliquely acute, compressed, 2-valved, obliquely depressed between seeds with transverse grooves. Seeds rounded, compressed. x= 11 (8) ( polyploidy).