Narrative

Pea or Legume Family (Leguminosae to Fabaceae) is one of the largest and most important families of plants. Peas, beans, clovers, alfalfa, and other related species are found here. This family of very important plants is usually broken into several sub-families to facilitate study. There are about 16,400 species in this family divided into about 650 different genera. There were, as of 1994, about 1,574 species established in greater North America. These were distributed in 158 different genera. Varous authors divide this family in different ways.

Here they are arbitrarily separated into three parts: The Mimosa and Acacia group, the redbud and locust group (including the Robinia genus), and the Lotiodeae group which contains most of the herbs.

Taxonomy

References