Galactia

  • Authority

    Britton, Nathaniel L. & Millspaugh, Charles F. 1920. The Bahama Flora.

  • Family

    Fabaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Galactia

  • Description

    Description - Perennial vines (some species erect and shrubby), mainly with pinnately 3-foliolate leaves, small and deciduous stipules, and small or large axillary racemose flowers. Calyx 4-lobed, bracteolate, the lobes acute, often as long as the tube. Standard orbicular or obovate. "Wings narrow, obovate, adherent to the narrow, nearly straight keel. Stamens diadelphous or nearly so (9 and 1). Ovary nearly sessile; ovules co; style filiform, not bearded. Pod linear, straight or slightly curved, usually flattened, 2-valved, several-seeded. Fleshy few-seeded pods are sometimes produced from subterranean apetalous flowers. [Greek, milk-yielding, the typical species described as having milky branches.] About 70 species natives of warm and temperate regions, most abundant in America. Type species: Glycine Galactia L.