Best Fabaceae
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Ground plum milkvetch, Astragalus crassicarpus, is a low-growing perennial legume native to prairies and open grasslands of central North America. It produces clusters of pea-shaped purple flowers followed by rounded, fleshy pods that rest near the ground and resemble small plums before drying. The...
Yellow wild indigo, Baptisia tinctoria, is a herbaceous perennial in the legume family native to dry woods, open fields, and prairies in eastern North America. It bears small yellow, pea-shaped flowers and inflated seedpods on branching stems, while its deep root system helps established plants tole...
Wild senna is a tall perennial legume native to eastern North America, commonly classified as Senna hebecarpa or the closely related Senna marilandica. It produces compound leaves, clusters of yellow summer flowers, and elongated seedpods that darken as they mature. The plant grows in prairies, mead...
Partridge pea, Chamaecrista fasciculata, is an annual legume native to much of eastern and central North America. It bears pinnate leaves, yellow summer flowers with reddish markings, and flattened seedpods that split open when mature. Extrafloral nectaries on its leaf stalks attract ants and other...
Showy tick trefoil, Desmodium canadense, is a perennial legume native to much of eastern and central North America. It produces upright stems, compound leaves with three leaflets, and dense clusters of pink to purple pea-shaped flowers during summer. Its jointed seedpods break into individual segmen...
Goat's rue, Tephrosia virginiana, is a perennial legume native to dry, open habitats in eastern and central North America. It has silky compound leaves and dense clusters of bicolored flowers, typically combining pale yellow with pink or purple. Its roots contain rotenone and related compounds that...
A West African tree, velvet tamarind produces small hard-shelled pods encasing dry sweet-sour pulp eaten as a snack and used in traditional medicine across sub-Saharan Africa.
A Eurasian annual legume (Vicia villosa) widely cultivated as a nitrogen-fixing cover crop and forage plant, now naturalized as a common roadside wildflower across North America.
An annual clover native to Europe (Trifolium arvense) with distinctive soft, fuzzy gray-pink cylindrical flower heads resembling a rabbit's foot, naturalized across North America.
A perennial clover native to Europe (Trifolium hybridum) introduced to North America in the 19th century as a forage crop and now naturalized in meadows and roadsides.
A low-growing annual or biennial legume native to Eurasia (Medicago lupulina) with small yellow flowers and distinctive black kidney-shaped seed pods, naturalized worldwide.
A biennial legume native to Eurasia (Melilotus albus) introduced to North America as forage and a soil-nitrogen improver, now naturalized as a widespread roadside weed.
