Guilandina Linnaeus; Mezonevron Desfontaines.

Trees, shrubs, or climbers, usually with prickles. Leaves alternate, bipinnate; leaflets alternate or opposite, small or large. Inflo­rescences racemes or panicles, axillary or terminal. Flowers yellow or orange-yellow, medium-large or large. Receptacle concave. Sepals separate, imbricate, lowest one larger. Petals 5, often clawed, spreading, 4 usually orbicular, sometimes oblong, uppermost smaller, different in color, shape, and pubescence from others. Stamens 10, in 2 whorls; filaments thickened and hairy at bases; an­thers ovoid or elliptic, dorsifixed and versatile. Ovary 1-7-ovuled; style terete; stigma truncate or hollow at center. Legume com­pressed or swollen, ovoid, oblong, or lanceolate, sometimes falcate, winged or not, smooth or spiny, leathery or woody, rarely fleshy, dehiscent or indehiscent. Seeds ovoid or globose; albumen absent.

About 100 species: pantropical distribution; 20 species (six endemic, two introduced) in China.

(Authors: Chen Dezhao (陈德昭 Chen Te-chao), Zhang Dianxiang (张奠湘); Ding Hou)