The Bean Bag is a newsletter designed to promote communication among research scientists concerned with legume systematics. It started in 1974 as the initiative of Bob Gunn and Richard Cowan; the first printed issue was distributed in May 1975, so Bean Bag is nearly 40 years old. The aim of the Bean Bag was to produce an inexpensive and regularly circulated document to keep legume researchers informed and updated with new titles or projects on the family.
As stated in issue 56, The Kew Record of Taxonomic Literature ceased to be compiled in 2008; despite many other current alert systems in journals, it remains difficult to gather all new literature on Legume Systematics. As requested by the previous editor, if readers are working in, or have knowledge of, Institutes that compile electronic records available on line, I will be grateful if they would send me the appropriate URL. In this issue the reported recent Legume literature was compiled mainly from reader’s contributions. You will notice a few minor changes in layout, but the overall format of the newsletter remains unchanged. The Bean Bag is delivered by e-mail. New readers wishing to receive a copy should send an e-mail to <email>. Please provide your full name, title, and area(s) of interest. Past issues, numbers 49- 56, are available on request by applying to the same e-mail address. I take the opportunity to thank the previous editor, Barbara Mackinder, for her diligent work in compiling and distributing this newsletter since 1997.