(goat’s rue), a genus of perennial plants of the Leguminosae family.
Four (six) species of galega are known from the south and southeast of Europe to Southwest Asia and East Africa. There are two species in the USSR. Galega orientalis, with bright dark-blue flowers, pendent pods, and acuminate leaflets on odd-pinnate leaves, grows at the edges of forests and fields in the Caucasus. It is a valuable plant which produces early and abundant forage. G. officinalis is characterized by light pale-blue flowers, nonpendent pods, and blunt leaflets. It is found in the Caucasus, Moldavia, the southern Ukraine, and Byelorussia. Certain kinds are poisonous to cattle.