Description: Small shrubs or perennial herbs, prostrate to ascending.
Leaves alternate, bipinnate, frequently sensitive; glands present or absent; pinnae rachis extended beyond terminal pinnules; stipules and stipelae ± persistent.
Inflorescences axillary, globose heads or cylindrical spikes, pedunculate. Flowers 5-merous, green rarely yellow, upper flowers bisexual, lower flowers sterile. Calyx 5-lobed. Petals 5, free. Stamens 5 or rarely 10, with an apical gland, free, exserted; petaloid in sterile flowers.
Pod flat, dehiscent, ± septate between seeds; seeds 1–20, usually transverse.
Distribution and occurrence: World: 11 species tropical & subtropical regions. Australia: 5 species (endemic), Qld, N.S.W., N.T., S.A., W.A.
Text by L. Murray
Taxon concept:
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Pods 3–8-seeded, oblong; flowering peduncles mostly 4–10 cm long; glands absent from petiole and rachis. | Neptunia gracilis |
| Pods 1-seeded, oval to circular, flowering peduncles 1–6.5 cm long; glands present on petiole and sometimes 1 or more on rachis. | Neptunia dimorphantha |
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