ABSTRACT
Leguminosae (or Fabaceae) is the third largest family of flowering plants, after Orchidaceae (the orchid family) and Asteraceae (Compositae; the sunflower family), with over 600 genera and 20,000 species. It is an extraordinarily diverse family of worldwide distribution, with representatives occurring from alpine and arctic regions to the equatorial tropics. Legumes include herbaceous plants, such as the temperate to subtropical crop species pea, vetch, soybean, and common bean, and also large, woody lianas, such as Wisteria and 100-meter tall trees of tropical forests.
