367 species; see text Chamaecrista is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae.

Members of the genus are commonly known as sensitive pea.

Unlike the related genera Cassia and Senna, members of Chamaecrista form root nodules.

Chamaecrista has 367 species, with a wide distribution – the Americas from Minnesota to northern Argentina, sub-Saharan Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and Iran, the Indian Subcontinent, Indochina, China, Korea, Japan, Malesia, New Guinea, and Australia.

The species in the series are all endemic to Brazil and can be divided geographically into two main lineages, one from the highlands of Goiás, and the second from the Espinhaço Range of Bahia and Minas Gerais.