A fter the grasses, the legume family (which includes peas, beans, and soya) is the plant group of greatest importance to mankind. The legume family is a source of products and services from tropical timber to atmospheric nitrogen fixation. As the botanist E. J. H. Corner (1) put it, ‘‘From arctic circle to tropics, desert to pergola, bacteria to plough, field to mouth, and legend to science, L...