Geoffroea

Geoffroea is a rather small genus of wild spiny shrubs or small trees of tropical and subtropical South America. Although it gathers few species, they are highly extended geographically throughout the subcontinent. Each species is well known in its local area, as seen from the varied (and mostly domestic) usage of these trees as food, timber or fuel.

Taxonomy of the Geoffroea genus is not an uncomplicated matter due to the large available number of binomial synonyms found in literature, sometimes referring to a same species. Also, this Fabaceae genus has been alternatively linked to the subfamily Papilionoideae or Faboideae (alternative name used in some classification systems for the family Papilionaceae or Fabaceae). Nevertheless, Geoffroeas are listed among the legumes to which they belong.

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