Classical name applied to this and other genera.
Annual or perennial herbs or subshrubs. Leaves alternate, odd-pinnate, mostly of about 5 leaflets. Flowers in axillary clusters, sometimes solitary. Stamens 10, 9 united, 1 free, alternating long and short. Fruit a narrow, linear pod.
Grown for the ornamental foliage and attractive, colourful pea flowers.
Several species have been introduced to Australia as fodder crops and have become naturalised.
About 100 northern temperate species, Australia with 2 endemic species.
Herbaceous species by seed, woody species by seed, cuttings, division and layering.
Some species are grown for the edible pods, others as green feed.
Leaflets 5-9, pinnate, the lower pair stipule-like.
Larsen & Zertova (1965).
Source: (2002). Fabaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.