The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, are a large and agriculturally important family of flowering plants. It includes trees, shrubs, and perennial or annual herbaceous plants, which are easily recognized by their fruit (legume) and their compound, stipulate leaves. The family is widely distributed, and is the third-largest land plant family in number of species, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with about 765 genera and nearly 20,000 known species.
Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant family that includes the true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genera worldwide. They are dicotyledons, and occur mainly in warm temperate and tropical regions, especially Southeast Asia and South America. Many are aromatic evergreen trees or shrubs, but some, such as Sassafras, are deciduous, or include both deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs, especially in tropical and temperate climates. The genus Cassytha is unique in the Lauraceae in that its members are parasitic vines. Most laurels are highly poisonous.
Paubrasilia echinata is a species of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is endemic to the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. It is a Brazilian timber tree commonly known as Pernambuco wood or brazilwood and is the national tree of Brazil. This plant has a dense, orange-red heartwood that takes a high shine, and it is the premier wood used for making bows for stringed instruments. The wood also yields a historically important red dye called brazilin, which oxidizes to brazilein.
Hydrochorea is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It includes 11 species native to Central and South America and west and west-central Africa. It belongs to the mimosoid clade of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae.
Macrosamanea is a genus of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae. It includes 11 species of trees and shrubs native to northern South America. The genus is most diverse and numerous in the Amazon Basin, extending into the Orinoco basin and the Guianas. Typical habitat is tropical rain forest, mostly riparian and seasonally-flooded. Two species are native to seasonally-inundated wooded grassland (savanna) on sandy soils. The genus belongs to the mimosoid clade of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae.
Sympetalandra is a genus of legume in the family Fabaceae. It includes five species of trees native to Malesia (Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, the Lesser Sunda Islands, and the Philippines, where they grow in lowland tropical forest. It belongs subfamily Caesalpinioideae.
Vouacapoua is a genus of legume in the family Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It includes three species of trees native to northern South America, ranging from the Guianas to northern and northeastern Brazil. They grow in terre firme Amazonian rain forest.
Zenia is a genus of plants in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Dialioideae. It contains a single species, Zenia insignis. It is a medium-sized tree, 15–20 metres (49–66 ft) tall. It is found in southern China and northern Vietnam. It is threatened by habitat loss and overharvesting. The species is under second-class national protection in China.
Peltophorum is a genus of 5–15 species of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae. The genus is native to certain tropical regions across the world, including northern South America, central and southern Africa, Indochina, southeastern China, Malesia, New Guinea, and northern Australia. The species are medium-sized to large trees growing up to 15–25 m tall, rarely 50 m.
Samuel James Record was an American botanist who played a prominent role in the study of wood.
Martiodendron is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It includes five species of trees native to northern South America, from southern Venezuela, the Guianas, and Peru to Bolivia and southeastern Brazil. Typical habitats include tropical rain forest, often periodically inundated, in both the Amazon and Atlantic forests, as well as seasonally-dry forest and wooded grassland (savanna), up to 600 meters elevation. The genus belongs to the subfamily Dialioideae.
Lysiphyllum is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It includes nine species of trees, semi-scandent shrubs, and lianas which range from India through Myanmar and Thailand to Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, the Philippines, Java, the Lesser Sunda Islands, New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, and Australia. Typical habitats include seasonally-dry tropical forest and woodland, vine thickets, Brigalow and Gidgee scrubland, floodplains, alluvial flats, tidal forest, mangroves, river and stream banks, and occasionally dunes and coral islets. They can grow on diverse soils including calcareous, granitic, and basaltic.
Piliostigma is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It includes five species of small deciduous trees native to sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Java, the Philippines, and northern Australia. It belongs to the subfamily Cercidoideae and the tribe Bauhinieae. It is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants.
Samanea is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It includes four species of trees native to the tropical Americas, ranging from Belize to Paraguay, and to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa. Habitats include tropical moist evergreen and seasonally-dry deciduous forest, woodland, and wooded grassland. It belongs to the mimosoid clade of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. The type species is Samanea saman from South America.
Bolusanthus speciosus is a species of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae. It is the only member of the genus Bolusanthus.
Luetzelburgia is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It includes 14 species of trees and shrubs native to Brazil, Bolivia, and Colombia. Typical habitat is seasonally-dry tropical lowland woodland and wooded grassland, and occasionally lowland rain forests. The genus belongs to the subfamily Faboideae. It was traditionally assigned to the tribe Sophoreae, mainly on the basis of flower morphology; recent molecular phylogenetic analyses assigned Luetzelburgia into an informal, monophyletic clade called the "vataireoids". Keys for the different species of Luetzelburgia have been published.
Vatairea is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It includes eight species of tall trees native to the tropical Americas, ranging from southern Mexico to Bolivia and southern Brazil. Seven species are native to northern South America, with the center of diversity in Amazonia. Vatairea lundellii ranges from southern Mexico to Panama. Most species grow in tropical rain forest, often in the inudated forests known as igapó and varzea, where they are emergent trees, growing above the forest canopy. V. macrocarpa grows in seasonally-dry forest, cerrado, and caatinga.
Vataireopsis is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It includes four species of small to emergent trees, native to northern South America, ranging from Colombia, Venezuela, and the Guianas to Bolivia and southern Brazil. They grow in tropical lowland rain forest, in both the Amazon and Atlantic Forest.
Tetrapleura is a genus of flowering plants in the mimosoid clade of the family Fabaceae. It includes two species of trees native to sub-Saharan Africa, ranging from Senegal to Kenya and Tanzania, and south to Angola. They grow in tropical lowland rain forest, secondary thicket, and fringing forest in the Guineo-Congolian forest and Lake Victoria basin.
Tara is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It includes three species of trees and shrubs native to the tropical Americas, from northern Mexico through Central America, the Caribbean, and western South America to Bolivia and Central Chile. Typical habitats include seasonally-dry tropical forest and semi-arid thorn scrub. It belongs to tribe Caesalpinieae of subfamily Caesalpinioideae.
