Faboideae

The Faboideae is the largest subfamily in the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. An alternative name for the subfamily, mostly used in older literature, is Papilionoideae, or Papilionaceae when this group of plants is treated as a family.

Widely known members of this subfamily include peanuts, peas, lentils, lupin, soybean, and other legumes. The butterfly-shaped flowers are characteristic of the Faboideae subfamily and root nodulation is very common. The species in this subfamily vary enormously in size, from the tiny Lupinus uncialis reaching only 2 cm in height, to Pterocarpus mildbraedii subsp. usumbarensis at up to 75 m (246 ft) height.