Securigera DC.

About 13 species, Europe, Asia, introduced in North America.

Traditionally, the species of Securigera were included in Coronilla L., a related Old World genus which was thought to comprise about 22 species. On the basis of careful analysis of morphological characters, Lassen (1989) moved about 12 of these species to the formerly monotypic Securigera and 1 additional taxon to the larger genus Hippocrepis L. (about 34 species), leaving Coronilla in the restricted sense with only about 9 species native to Europe, Asia, and Africa. Securigera differs from Coronilla in having angled stems, thinner leaves, free bracts with dark markings, and slender, glabrous styles. Preliminary molecular data also support the separation of Hippocrepis and Securigera from Coronilla (Allan and Porter, 2000; Degtjareva et al., 2003).