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Fabaceae


This is one of the largest, most widespread and most easily recognised families of flowering plants. It includes peas, beans and other plants with similar flowers. Various species may be found almost anywhere in Australia, from the coast to the arid interior, rain forests to grasslands and from the tropical north to the cold sub-alps of Tasmania. The family is absent only from saline habitats (saltmarshes, mangroves and highly saline soils) and from truly aquatic ones.

Characteristic features of the family Fabaceae in Australia include:

  • trees, shrubs, climbers or herbs
  • leaves alternate, simple or compound and then often trifoliolate or pinnate
  • flowers with 5 petals, characteristically "papilionaceous", i.e. zygomporphic with one large "standard" petal, two smaller "wings" and two petals joined to form a "keel", sometimes with some of these members variously reduced or enlarged
  • stamens 10, all free or united into an open or closed tube around the style
  • fruit a 2-valved pod, occasionally indehiscent or breaking transversely into 1-seeded sections.

Description

Evergreen, deciduous or semi-deciduous trees, or shrubs, or annual, biennial or perennial terrestrial herbs, or woody or herbaceous vines climbing by scrambling, twining stems or petioles, or by axillary tendrils. Perennating by rhizomes, taproots or crowns. Vegetative reproduction absent or by rhizomes, stolons or root suckers. Adult leaves sometimes replaced by scales, or leaves ±absent. Stems unarmed or with thorns or spines arising from the leaf axils; internodes solid or spongy or pithy, terete, oval or slightly flattened, strongly flattened or distinctly angular. Extra-floral nectaries absent or present on the foliage. Internal secretions not obvious, or rarely of resin. Plants glabrous, or with simple or dendritic, glandular or non-glandular, unicellular, uniseriate or multiseriate hairs. Leaves well developed, or much reduced (ie. to scales, etc.), or entirely absent, alternate and spiral, or distichous, or opposite, or in whorls of 3 or 4, cauline or both basal and cauline if herbs, leaves petiolate, subsessile or sessile, rarely peltate; pulvinae present or absent. Stipules absent, or present and distinct and free from the petiole, or intrapetiolar, scale-like or membranous, green and leafy, spine-like, bristle-like, lacerate or fimbriate, falling off early or persistent; stipellae present or absent. Lamina simple or once compound, unifoliolate, bifoliolate, ternate, paripinnate or imparipinnate, symmetric or rarely conspicuously asymmetric, flat, pinnatifid or pinnatisect; lamina/leaflets filiform, acicular, subulate, linear, lanceolate, ovate, elliptic, oblanceolate, ovate, oblong, flabellate or orbicular; base cuneate, attenuate, rounded, cordate, lobed or auriculate or oblique; margins entire, crenate, dentate or serrate, sinuate or spiny, ±flat, revolute, recurved, involute or incurved; one-veined, or the venation pinnate, or parallel, with the midrib conspicuous or inconspicuous, and the tertiary venation reticulate or not; surfaces dark-punctate or not punctate; herbaceous, leathery or hard and spinose, rarely succulent. All the flowers bisexual. Inflorescences terminal, axillary, leaf opposed, cauliflorous or ramiflorous, consisting of capitula, spikes, racemes, panicles, corymbs, umbels or solitary flowers. Bracts and bracteoles present or absent. Pollination by insects, birds or bats. Flowers odourless or fragrant, sessile or stalked. Floral disc present or absent; nectaries present on the disc. Free hypanthium present or absent. Perianth of 2 dissimilar whorls. Calyx irregular or apparently regular; segments fused, with 2, 4 or 5 lobes, imbricate or valvate in bud; calyx cup-shaped or bell-shaped. Corolla irregular; segments fused, or some fused and others free, with 5 petals or lobes, alternating with the calyx lobes, imbricate in bud, papilionaceous, white, yellow or red, pink, magenta, purple, violet, blue, rarely cream, orange or green, without contrasting markings, or streaked, spotted, etc, membranous; claws present; lobes ±entire or notched, emarginate, bifid or bilobed. Fertile stamens 10, both opposite to and alternating with the calyx lobes, free of the corolla, free of the ovary and style, distinct from each other or fused by their filaments into an open or closed tube, all ±equal or markedly unequal. Anthers dorsifixed or basifixed, versatile or not versatile, opening inwards by longitudinal slits, 1–2-celled. Ovary superior and stalked or sessile. Carpel 1; ovary with 1 locule. Style terminal, single and unbranched. Ovules (1–) 2–numerous, stalked; placentation marginal. Fruit a dry, dehiscent (rarely indehiscent) follicle, legume (sometimes with explosive dehiscence) or lomentum; the perianth on the maturing fruit deciduous, dry and persistent or growing larger. Disseminule macro-surface featureless, winged or with hooked hairs; micro-surface ±smooth, tuberculate, reticulate, alveolate, ruminate, granulate or rugose, white, cream, yellow, orange, red, green, brown, grey or black, without contrasting markings, or conspicuously patterned, glossy or dull. Seeds 1–numerous per fruit. Aril present or absent. Cotyledons 2. Embryo straight or sharply bent.
(Note: this description has been generated from the coded data compiled for the key. Any errors in the key data will be reflected in the descriptions.)

A treatment of the family Fabaceae has not yet been published in the Flora of Australia. It will appear in Volumes 13, 14 & 15.

Australian genera of Fabaceae (as recognised for the Flora of Australia)

† = some species native, others introduced
* = all species introduced

Abrus
Aenictophyton
Aeschynomene
*Alhagi
Almaleea
Alysicarpus
*Anthyllis
Aotus
*Arachis
*Astragalus
Austrodolichos
Austrosteenisia
Bossiaea
Brachysema
Cajanus
Callistachys
*Calopogonium
*Calicotome
Canavalia
Carmichaelia
Castanospermum
*Centrosema
Chorizema
Christia
Cicer
Clianthus
Clitoria
*Coronilla
Crotalaria
Cupulanthus
Cyclocarpa
*Cytisus
Dalbergia
Daviesia
Dendrolobium
Derris
Desmodium
Dicerma
Dillwynia
Dioclea
*Dipogon
Dunbaria
Erichsenia
Eriosema
†Erythrina
Euchilopsis
Eutaxia
Flemingia
Galactia
*Galega
Gastrolobium
*Genista
Glycine
†Glycyrrhiza
Gompholobium
Goodia
Haematoxylum
Hardenbergia
*Hedysarum
Holtzea
Hovea
Indigofera
Inocarpus
Isotropis
Jacksonia
Jansonia
Kennedia
*Kummerowia
Lablab
Lamprolobium
*Lathyrus
Latrobea
Leptosema
Lespedeza
*Lotononis
†Lotus
*Lupinus
*Macroptilium
Macrotyloma
*Medicago
*Melilotus
Millettia
Mirbelia
Mucuna
Muelleranthus
Nemcia
*Neonotonia
Nomismia
*Onobrychis
*Ononis
Ormocarpum
Ormosia
*Ornothopus
Oxylobium
Pachyrhizus
Paratephrosia
*Phaseolus
Phylacium
Phyllodium
Phyllota
*Pisum
Plagiocarpus
Platylobium
*Podalyria
*Poinciana
Pongamia
Psoralea
Ptychosema
Pueraria
Pultenaea
Pycnospora
*Retama
Rhynchosia
*Robinia
Rothia
Scorpiurus
†Sesbania
Shuteria
Smithia
Sophora
*Spartium
Sphaerolobium
Streblorrhiza
Strongylodon
*Stylosanthes
*Sutherlandia
Swainsona
Tadehagi
Templetonia
Tephrosia
*Trifolium
†Trigonella
*Ulex
Uraria
Urodon
Vandasina
*Vicia
Vigna
Viminaria
*Wisteria
Zornia


Abrus precatorius (fruit)
Photo: M.Fagg © M.Fagg 


Bossiaea dentata (flowers)
Photo: M.Fagg © ANBG 


Canavalia rosea (flowers)
Photo: M.Fagg © ANBG 


Castanospermum australe (flowers)
Photo: G.Sankowski © Zodiac Publications