herbs, shrubs, trees or vines/lianas climbing by twining or tendrils, often with root nodules containing nitrogen-fixing bacteria (Rhizobium)
Distribution
Nearly cosmopolitan; the third largest family of angiosperms; occuring in a wide range of habitats
Floral characters
Inflorescences racemose or paniculate; flowers mostly zygomorphic; Sepals: 5, partly connated tepals: 5 arranged in a characteristic fashion: the uppermost termed standard, the laterals wings, and the two lowermost commonly connate into the keel, enclosing the stamens Stamens: 10, , connate into a tube, or the uppermost free and the others connate Ovary: superior
Systematic remarks
= Leguminosae
Leaf characters
alternate, rarely opposite, mostly pinnately compound or trifoliolate
Stipules
present
Fruit characters
lusually a pod, sometimes a loment, samara, nut or drupe-like
sometimes toxic protiens, lots of lectins, basic forms contain alkaloids,saponins are very commen. Sieve cell plastids with protien crystals and usually also with starch grains.
Distribution maps
(online von http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb/ . Dort zitiert wie unter jedem Diagramm vermerkt):
Unterfamilie Mimosoideae (Fabaceae)
map: from Vester 1940; Maslin et al. 2003
Unterfamilie Faboideae (Fabaceae)
map: from Vester 1940; Meusel et al. 1965; Hultén 1971
Cercidoideae
map: from Meusel et al. (1965), Sales and Hedge (1996) and Trop. Afr. Fl. Pl. Ecol. Distr. 3 (2008)
