This is a large family with representatives rangeing from herbs to shrubs, one of the key characteristics is alternate compound leaves with stipules. The flowers are perfect and irregular with 5 more or less united sepals and 5 petals. There are usually 10 stamens, the arrangement of the stamens is one the characters used to classify various genera. The fruit is a 1 or 2 compartment pod (legume) or a pod constricted between the seeds (loment).
Genera found in Manitoba:
Amorpha Amphicarpa Astragalus Caragana Cicer Coronilla Desmondium Glycyrrhiza Hedysarum Lathyrus Lotus Medicago Melilotus Oxytropis Petalostemum Psoralea Tephrosia Thermopsis Trifolium Trigonella Vicia