The NPGS specialty legume curation project includes about 60 genera, 358 species, and 3,604 accessions for uses ranging from forage to medicinal. Historical agricultural value of legumes for cover cropping, forage, yield, and disease resistance is known. The earliest known velvetbean cultivar, Florida was released in 1896 by the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station and was soon followed in 1908 by three additional velvetbean cultivars known as Osceola, Alachua, and Wakulla for forage. Several cultivars have been released from various specialty legume species (1941-1991) with uses ranging from forage to cover cropping. Additional specialty legume cultivars including Kinman guar was released from NPGS germplasm during 1970 for early maturity and yield. The latest cultivar release from NPGS germplasm in 1992 was IRFL 4655, Macroptilium atropurpureum for yield. However, added value for contributions in specialty crops are needed. Specialty legume research has focused on content and variability for various phytochemicals and pest control. For example, swordbean reduces root-knot nematode galls by 82% when used as a soil amendment. Recently, some velvetbean accessions were shown to be completely free of ozone damage. Many underutilized, specialty legumes hold promise for uses such as biomass for fuel, urease for fuel cells, biological control, nutraceuticals, medicines, and ozone resistance in the future.