Ammothamnus Bunge; Cephalostigmaton Yakovlev; Edwardsia Salisbury; Goebelia Bunge ex Boissier; Keyserlingia Bunge ex Boissier; Styphnolobium Schott; Vexibia Rafinesque.

Deciduous or evergreen trees, shrubs, subshrubs, or perennial herbs, rarely twining. Leaves imparipinnate; stipules present or absent; leaflets many, entire, rarely with stipels. Racemes terminal or axillary. Flowers white, yellow, or purple; bracts small and linear or absent. Calyx campanulate or cup-shaped, 5-lobed, equal, upper 2 lobes nearly bilabiate. Standard orbicular, oblong, elliptic, obovate, or oblanceolate; wings asymmetric or symmetric; keel similar to wings. Stamens 10, free or fused at base; anthers ver­satile. Ovary stalk short or absent; ovules several to many; stigma small, terminal, globose. Legumes cylindric, moniliform, fleshy or leathery, sometimes winged, indehiscent or tardily dehiscent. Seeds 1 to many, ovate, elliptic, or subspheroidal, black, dark brown, or light red.

About 70 species: widespread in tropical and temperate zones; 21 species (nine endemic, one introduced) in China.

(Authors: Bao Bojian (包伯坚); Michael A. Vincent)