Home
Herbs. Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate; stipules adnate to the petiole, toothed or laciniate; leaflets toothed. Inflorescence a short pedunculate axillary raceme; pedicels and bracts short. Calyx-tube short, with 5 sub-equal teeth. Petals glabrous, caducous, free from the staminal tube, yellow or, less often, purplish-blue, under 1 cm. long; keel obtuse, shorter than the wings. Vexillary filament free, the other 9 united, not dilated; anthers uniform. Ovary sessile; style subulate, glabrous. Pod longer than the calyx, bent through 180° or through several spiral coils, usually indehiscent. Seeds 1-several, kidney-shaped or curved, the hilum ± central.
Annual to perennial, procumbent to erect herbs or shrubs. Lvs pinnately 3-foliolate; principal lateral veins thin and straight, terminating at leaflet margin often in a tooth; stipules adnate to petiole. Infl. axillary, racemose, sometimes forming dense heads, few-to many-flowered; bracts present subtending fls. Calyx teeth 5, ± equal. Corolla deciduous after flowering. Vexillary stamen free, the others connate; anthers uniform. Style glabrous; stigma subcapitate. Pod 2-valved, falcate or spirally coiled, scarcely dehiscent, spinous or not armed, few-to many-seeded, rarely 1-2-seeded; seeds estrophiolate, smooth and rounded in N.Z. spp.
Cal-tube campanulate, the 5 lobes subequal; standard obovate or oblong, longer than the oblong erect wings, these with a prominent spur on the surface and a large retrorse basilateral lobe; keel blunt, shorter than and adherent to the wings; stamens 10, diadelphous, all free from the cor; style short; pod straight to more often ± coiled, usually indehiscent, 1–several-seeded; herbs with 3-foliolate, serrulate lvs, the terminal lfl stalked; fls discharging pollen by an explosive trip-mechanism, small, yellow or blue, in axillary heads or short head-like racemes. 80, Old World, mainly Eurasia.
Petals free from the stamens, mostly yellow or golden (blue, violet or mauve in M. sativa), glabrous, caducous; standard with basal vein usually more than 3-branched near the base; wings with the upper proximal corner extended into a large auricle (about one-third the length of the wing blade); keel and wings very tightly interlocked by an adaxial (ventral) prominent wing spur in an abaxial (dorsal) developed keel pocket.
Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate; leaflets at least distally marginally toothed; stipules basally adnate to the petiole, deeply incised or laciniate (entire or basally toothed in M. sativa).
Ovary sessile, 1–few–many-ovuled; style always short, massive, glabrous; stigma terminal, large, fungiliform (mushroom-shaped), with a basal ring of papillae.
Pod exserted from the calyx, usually spirally coiled, discoid to cylindrical, mostly indehiscent, the dorsal suture usually spiny or smooth or tuberculate.
Flowers pedicellate, with an elaborate explosive tripping pollination mechanism (in connection with a syndrome of floral characteristics).
Staminal tube strongly arched at the apex; free portions of filaments relatively thick; vexillary filament free; anthers uniform.
Seeds 1–several, small, ± reniform, ellipsoid-oblong or slightly curved, mostly smooth; hilum ± central.
Racemes short, axillary, pedunculate; bracts short.
Calyx short, 5-dentate; teeth subequal.
Annual or perennial herbs.
