In August, thanks to the collaboration of 109 legume experts (13 of whom are new contributors), we published a new version of the WCVP: Fabaceae Checklist: (2025 v.6). The latest version is available on ChecklistBank and the Legume Data Portal. The legume checklist forms part of the GBIF and the World Flora Online (WFO) taxonomic backbones.

We are happy to report that overall, we have now checked c. 62% of legume names, up from 50% in the previous publication of the checklist. What tremendous progress! Our focus of the previous two years has been to mobilise our community, following the publication of Advances in Legume Systematics volume 14, to update the names in subfamily Caesalpinioideae. A total of 45 additional Caesalpinioideae genera have been verified since 2024, and minor corrections across the other subfamilies are also included.

The legume datasets include Catalogue of Life, International Plant Name Index (IPNI), Plants of the World Online and World Flora Online identifiers.

Legume checklist versions are archived on Zenodo.

Going forward, the legume checklist can be edited using the procedures as outlined here.

In the coming year, we are hoping to make a large impact on the checking of Papilionoideae names. Please contribute and spread the word!

For 2026, checklist revisions should be submitted by 10 April 2026 for publication in summer 2026.

Sincere to all of you in the legume systematics community who helped improve and publish the checklists! We also take this opportunity to thank the Plant and Fungal Names Team at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew who vetted the names and published the WCVP database, in particular Rafaël Govaerts and Nicholas Black, as well as Alan Elliott at WFO who is guiding us with the use of Rhakhis and much more, and the informatics team at GBIF for ongoing help with publication of our datasets and support with the Legume Data Portal.

If you want to join the Taxonomy Working Group and help to update names, please register online. For any questions, contact Marianne le Roux, Anne Bruneau or Juliana Rando.