Family · Rosids
Fabaceae
Legumes — beans, peas, acacia, clover
Legume family: nitrogen-fixing plants bearing pod fruits; third-largest plant family and a cornerstone of agriculture.
- Accepted species
- 22,808accepted names · Kew WCVP
- Genera
- 804accepted genera · Kew WCVP
- Origin
- ≈85 MaCretaceous · crown age, Jin & Qian 2022 megatree
- Centre of diversity
- Southern Americamost native species · WGSRPD
Open Fabaceae in the treePan, zoom and dig into its genera in the interactive view.›
Plants you might know
- Phaseolus (bean)
- Pisum (pea)
- Acacia
- Trifolium (clover)
Largest genera
Astragalus3,113 spp.
Acacia1,090 spp.
Indigofera764 spp.
Crotalaria718 spp.
Mimosa626 spp.
Oxytropis616 spp.
Lupinus591 spp.
Chamaecrista381 spp.
Tephrosia367 spp.
Trifolium307 spp.
Aspalathus298 spp.
Inga298 spp.
Senna295 spp.
Dalbergia284 spp.
Rhynchosia257 spp.
Vicia255 spp.
Hedysarum230 spp.
Senegalia218 spp.
Onobrychis210 spp.
Adesmia209 spp.
Swartzia194 spp.
Dalea193 spp.
Bauhinia187 spp.
Lathyrus184 spp.
Desmodium179 spp.
Eriosema168 spp.
Lonchocarpus168 spp.
Vachellia162 spp.
Genista157 spp.
Calliandra154 spp.
Daviesia131 spp.
Ormosia131 spp.
Erythrina129 spp.
Lotus128 spp.
Machaerium128 spp.
Millettia128 spp.
Psoralea127 spp.
Pultenaea127 spp.
Aeschynomene115 spp.
Phanera114 spp.
Cynometra113 spp.
Mucuna112 spp.
Gastrolobium110 spp.
Trigonella109 spp.
Vigna106 spp.
Caragana105 spp.
Albizia104 spp.
Archidendron98 spp.
Galactia98 spp.
Lotononis97 spp.
Medicago97 spp.
Bossiaea91 spp.
Zornia91 spp.
Ononis89 spp.
Phaseolus88 spp.
Swainsona87 spp.
Arachis84 spp.
Argyrolobium80 spp.
Macrolobium79 spp.
Jacksonia74 spp.
The 744 smaller genera are in the interactive tree.
Where it grows
- Southern America5,777
- Asia-Temperate5,446
- Africa5,393
- Northern America2,817
- Australasia2,676
- Asia-Tropical2,288
- Europe1,106
- Pacific184
- Antarctic1
Native species richness by botanical continent (WGSRPD level 1), from Kew WCVP.
Related families
Fabaceae sits in the order Fabales.