Flowering plants. Plants of the legume family Conclusion about the characteristic features of plants of the legume family

List leguminous plants consists of several thousand items. Among them there are both well-known and rare ones (for example, Dalbergia, Piscidia, Robinia). When asked which plants are legumes, biologists give the following definition: legumes are all dicotyledonous plants of the legume order. Below are photos and names of leguminous plants from brief description their features.

What plants are legumes?

Types of leguminous plants include peas, beans, soybeans and clover, among others. Among them there are forage grasses, and there are also grain crops, the seeds of which are very nutritious. It’s not for nothing that legumes are called plant meat: after all, the seeds hidden in a special fruit, the bean, contain a lot of protein and can replace animal meat.

Legumes are also called mothaceae, although, strictly speaking, mothaceae are only one of two subfamilies, the other being mimosa. In moths, the flower really resembles a butterfly or a boat. It has five petals: the upper large one is a flag, two side ones are oars or wings, and the two lower ones, fused or stuck together, represent a boat.

What types of leguminous plants are there?

Speaking specifically about the types of legumes, beans, peas, lentils and soy are most often mentioned.

It has many varieties and is grown not only for its seeds, but also for its flowers. Decorative beans are called “Turkish beans”.

It has a fruit typical of its family - a flat, bivalve bean with pea-shaped seeds. They are usually round or slightly angular.

Lentils grows in the Mediterranean, Transcaucasia, Asia Minor and Central Asia. It has been very popular since ancient times. Lentil soup is even mentioned in the Bible.

Lupine known to people since ancient times. Its name comes from the Latin word “lupus” - “wolf”. It’s not for nothing that lupine is called wolf bean, because its seeds contain poisonous, bitter substances. But lupine flowers are very beautiful, and it itself is extremely useful - nodule bacteria that live on its roots enrich the soil with nitrogen. Therefore, lupine is an excellent fertilizer.

People grew soybeans in ancient times, fully understanding its value. Chinese archaeologists have discovered images of soybeans on stones, bones and turtle shells. And these drawings are from 3000 to 4000 years old. Today, soybeans are cultivated all over the world and are highly valued for both their yield and their high content of proteins and vitamins. The use of these legumes in cooking is very wide: soybeans are used to make pasta, sauces, meat and even milk. True, this meat and milk are plant-based, but can partially replace animal products.

Trees of the legume family with photos

Carob trees, a member of the legume family, grow in the Mediterranean region. It has served people for a long time. They used it entirely - they ate the fruits themselves and fed livestock, honey and wine were made from the juice, records were kept on the leaves, tannins were extracted from the bark, and furniture and musical instruments were made from the wood.

Photo gallery

Carob, or Ceratonia capita, is the only Mediterranean plant that blooms in the fall.

In the 20th century The hard and durable seeds of the pod tree were used to make glue for making parachutes, and the seeds served as the main material in the production of photographic and film films.

The carob tree is named so for curved shape their pods.

Carob seeds have an amazing property - they have the same mass - 0.19 g, and even with long-term storage it does not change. The ancient Romans used them as weights for precise measurements. These seeds were called "karat". This is where the measure that is used today in assessing precious stones and as an indicator of the purity of gold. True, the modern metric carat is equal to 0.2 g.

Ceratonia capita are still grown today. And in the 20th century. Its beans were used to make glue for parachutes and materials for the production of photographic and film films. Today, carob powder is made from ceratonia, replacing cocoa and coffee. The weight of one grain is 0.19 g, which is the so-called “one carat”. Ceratonia is used to make liqueurs and compotes, a thickening agent for cooking is gum, and in medicine it is used to create various preparations.

If mature ceratonia pods are broken, they begin to smell like baker's yeast. In addition, they contain juicy, nutritious pulp. Apparently, that’s why ceratonia was nicknamed “ breadfruit John." According to one legend, John the Baptist ate carob fruits when he was alone and away from people.

Family Legumes

Denisova Diana 7 “B” class.

• Legumes, or Moths- family dicotyledons plant order Legumes .

• usually complex (digitated, pinnate, trifoliate) with stipules, less often simple.

• In typical legumes, the upper large petal is usually called sail(flag), side petals - oars(wings), and two fused or stuck together lower ones - boat .

• The Legume family includes 24,505 species, united in 946 genera. The extended family is usually divided into three subfamilies

• A number of legumes have long been cultivated as food plants and have become widespread in agriculture , others are known as decorative or food plants, some are a source wood valuable species .

• Legume seeds: peas , chickpeas , beans(white, red and black), lentils(red and brown)

• Sweet clover – honey plant, fodder and medicinal plant. Lupine provides green fertilizer: it is plowed into the soil as nitrogen fertilizer. The seed is rich in protein (up to 60%) and fat (up to 20%). It is also bred as an ornamental plant: it has a beautiful inflorescence - a raceme and palmate leaves.

• 1. Ornamental shrub With yellow flowers legume family.
• 2. The second name of the legume family.
• 3. Organic matter, the high content of which in seeds is valued by agricultural plants of the family.
• 4. Bacteria living in symbiosis with leguminous plants.
• 5. The name of the upper, usually the largest petal of a flower of the family.
• 6. The fruit of plants of the family.
• 7. An important agricultural plant of the family.
• 8. A plant whose fruits, after flowering, ripen underground, having previously been “buried” in it.
• 9. The number of stamens in a flower of the family.
• 10. The most important forage and melliferous plant of the family.

2. moths

4. nodule

• Beans Already in ancient times they were bred in South America. In Russia - since the 17th century. Not only the seeds, but also the beans are edible and nutritious. Soybeans , fashionable today due to the fact that it can replace almost everything - from meat and milk to rubber and soap, comes from the East. Its seed contains up to 45% protein and up to 27% fatty oil.

• Indeed, beans justify the status of “magic food”: they have a cleansing effect for the blood and the whole body, and are also rich in vitamin B, which reduces the likelihood of heart disease, help the body remove excess water, and help normalize digestion, as they are rich in manganese. Thanks to it, the hair has a lush and strong structure.

• The beans are playing important role in the diet of vegetarians, since, unlike meat, it also contains, in addition to proteins, an excess amount of fat.

• Mediterranean countries are considered the birthplace of all legumes. It was from there that they spread throughout the planet. It is worth noting that the ancient Egyptians knew about beans over 2400 BC. And the types of large-seeded beans are much younger than their “ancestors”. People have known about their existence since approximately the second half of the first millennium AD.

Plants of the legume family photos and names

The legume family (Fabaceae or Leguminosae) has about 700 genera and at least 17,000 species. Distributed from the Arctic to the Antarctic islands. They grow in mountains, steppes, forests. In the subtropics, tropics form the basis of forest flora.

Legumes are represented by trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants.
All of them are united by a characteristic fruit - a pod with beans.

They are good honey plants, attracting pollinating insects with the aroma of flowers. Self-pollination is characteristic of only some representatives (lentils, peas, some types of astragalus, lupins, vetch).

Features of caring for legumes

Heat-loving. Most legumes adapt well to heavy, infertile soils (loam, sand).
Maintenance is not difficult: water regularly (especially shrubs and herbaceous plants), weed, loosen the soil, protect from pests and diseases.

When growing legumes for food purposes, sowing time plays an important role. Early ripening, cold-resistant crops (beans, peas) have time to ripen in any climatic conditions, and in conditions middle zone to grow mid-season ones, you should resort to the seedling method.

Benefits of legumes

The role of legumes in the life of mankind is significant. In terms of nutritional importance (peas, lentils, soybeans, chickpeas, beans, peanuts) they are second only to cereals. There are technical, fodder (clover, alfalfa, vetch), medicinal (Japanese sophora, cassia), ornamental (lupine, mimosa, acacia, bean), and valuable wood-producing representatives.
Technical properties due to the presence of gum, coloring and aromatic substances.

Family Legumes

Horned frogweed (Lotus corniculatus) – perennial herbaceous plant family Moths or Legumes. IN natural environment distributed throughout the meadows of Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus. It is an excellent honey plant, grown as a fodder crop, in the garden it will become an effective ground cover, stable...

Broom (Citius, Zharnovets paniculata) is a spreading shrub or low tree. The height of the plant without pruning ranges from half a meter to three. The stems are smooth, covered with bright green bark, and become woody over time. There may be short fluff on the bark...

Bobovnik is a representative of the Legume family in the form of a deciduous tree. Its homeland is the Mediterranean and Central Europe. Gardeners often call cultivated forms garden bean, but this is not a specific variety, but a general popular name. The bean plant has thick...

Lupine (lat. name Lupinus) - genus ornamental plants from the legume family, which includes annuals and perennials herbaceous and shrubby type. In Latin, the word “Lupus” means wolf, so it can often be found among people as…

Landscape design is designed to surprise an eye accustomed to monotony, add unusualness to inconspicuous corners of the garden, or simply transform an area with green spaces. Amorpha shrubby is a little-known plant, and therefore of interest to lovers of curiosities. They decorate it as if it were private...

Legumes are a large family of the dicotyledonous class. It includes more than 20 thousand species. Legumes include herbs, shrubs and trees. A number of representatives of herbaceous legumes are valuable human food products (soybeans, beans, beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas, etc.). Other members of the legume family: sweet peas, acacias, clover, sweet clover, china.

The main characteristics by which different representatives of legumes are combined into one family are the structure of their flower and fruit.

The legume flower in most species consists of 5 sepals, 5 petals, one pistil and ten stamens. At the same time, the structure of the flower is unique; it has bilateral, and not radial, symmetry, like flowers of other families. The largest petal of the flower is called a sail, the two petals on the sides of the sail are oars, and the two lower petals grow together to form a boat. The pistil is located, as it were, inside the boat and is surrounded by stamens. In many legume species, 9 stamens grow together, leaving one free.

The name legumes comes from the name of the fruit that is formed in plants of this family. This is the fruit bean. It is a dry, usually multi-seeded fruit. The bean has two flaps that open when ripe. Seeds grow on these valves. It is necessary to distinguish between the bean fruit and the pod fruit. The pod has a partition between the valves, and the seeds grow on the partition. Although legume fruits are often referred to as pods, they are actually beans.

Members of the legume family, which are herbs, often form nodules on their roots. In such nodules live bacteria that can absorb atmospheric nitrogen. They enrich the plant with nitrogen-containing organic substances. The legume plant, in turn, provides them with nutrients. Thus, a symbiosis occurs between the plant and bacteria. Root nodules are not a collection of bacteria, since the bacteria are very small. This is the division of root cells caused by bacteria, as well as an increase in their size. When a legume plant dies, it enriches the soil with nitrogen. Therefore, legumes are often used in soil reclamation.

Legumes (and their seeds) contain a lot of protein.

Representatives of the legume family differ from each other in the structure of their stems and leaves. The inflorescences are often racemes (lupine) or heads (clover).

Cultivated leguminous plants

The legume family includes many plants that have nutritional value for humans.

Legume family (Fabaceae or Leguminosae)

The most famous ones are listed below.

Peas widespread, used by humans as food since ancient times. Its seeds germinate at temperatures just above zero, but require a lot of moisture (as does the plant itself). Peas are valuable big amount the protein it contains. Root system taproot, nodules with nitrogen-fixing bacteria form on the lateral roots. Upper parts compound leaves peas are transformed into antennae, with which it clings to the support. The structure of the flower is characteristic of legumes. Self-pollination occurs before flowering.

Beans came to us from South America, where it has been cultivated since ancient times. Edible different varieties Beans can be both seeds and beans themselves.

Soy grown in many countries for soy protein, oil and starch. Many different products are obtained from soybeans food products(it is a substitute for meat, dairy products, sweets, etc. are also made from it).

Beans(not to be confused with the name of the fruit) are often forage plants. Usually their stem is more than a meter long. Beans are unpretentious.

Family Legumes

astragalus

genus of plants in the legume family

Alternative descriptions

A break in the form of a half-shaft above the shelf that completes the fillet is characteristic of order architecture.

An architectural profile shaped like a roll, sometimes decorated with a string of stylized beads

Architectural bummer, combination of a roller with a shelf

Legume family plant

Medicinal plant

Fodder crop

Architectural bummer

Genus of trees and shrubs of the legume family

legume plant

A plant that in Ukraine has the popular name “lady's hands”

Forage legume grass

Genus of leguminous plants

Legume forage crop

Architectural profile

Forage plant

Bean grass

Architectural break in the form of a roller

Legume family plant

Architectural profile in the shape of a roller

Forage legume

Forage grass

M. plant Astragalus, cat, hare, mouse pea; podweed, horned grass; diffusus, mouse tea; glycyphyllos, hare peas, Peter's cross; physocarpus, chilchash? grass; fruticosus, rod; Cicer, flappers; major, royal root. architects: circle, view, rim, hoop, shell, belt, girdle around a pillar (column). anatomists: the talus in the foot, between the tibia and the heel; grandma, kozan

A plant that in Ukraine has the popular name “lady's hands”

A break in the form of a half-shaft above the shelf that completes the fillet, characteristic of order architecture

legume plant

As stated earlier, there are two main interpretations of the ranks and extent of taxa below the order. Some authors consider all legumes as one family, dividing it into three subfamilies; others accept the division of the order into three independent families, equal in volume to the mentioned subfamilies.
In the first case, two alternative and completely (!) equivalent names can be used to designate its family: Leguminosae Juss. or Fabaceae Lindl. When using a second alternative name to clarify the author’s position, it is highly desirable, but not at all necessary, to add the indication sensu lato (s. l.), because the name Fabaceae can, according to the ICBN, be used in another, narrower sense. The name Papilionaeeae Giseke, when denoting the legume family, understood in a broad sense (!), is not an alternative and cannot be used in this case.
When designating subfamilies, the following names must be used: for mimosaceae Mimosoideae Kunth, for caesalpiniaceae Caesalpinioideae Kunth, for moths Faboideae, or Papilionoideae DC. (Isely and Polhill, 1980; Polhill et al., 1981). The name Lotoideae (Lierst.) Rehd., sometimes used to designate the last subfamily, is illegitimate because it is based on a type different from that of the family.
In the second version of the legume system, the authors, as stated, distinguish within the order of three independent families, equal in volume to the mentioned subfamilies. The use here of the names Mimosaeeae R. Br. and Caesalpiniaeeae R. Br. no doubt. The situation is more complicated with the name of the third family - legumes, or legumes in the narrow sense, but not fermentation. In this interpretation of the scope of the family, the ICBN provides for two alternative (!) names: Fabaceae Lindl. (it is better to add s. s., i.e. sensu stricto - in the narrow sense) and Papilionaeeae Giseke (the latter, however, in contemporary works used very rarely). The name Leguminosae cannot be used in this case due to the provisions of Art. 18.5 of the ICDN, which states: “If Papilionaceae (Fabaceae) (phylum Faba Mill.) is considered as a special family distinct from the rest of Leguminosae, then the name Papilionaeeae is considered to be preserved instead of Leguminosae.”
Thus, the list of possible Latin names for legumes it looks like this:
Option I
Order:
▸ Leguminales Jones ( alternative name Fabales Nakai).
Family:
▪ Leguminosae Juss.

Tree of the legume family

(alternative name Fabaceae Lindi, s.l.).
Subfamilies:
▫ Mimosoideae Kunth.
▫ Caesalpinioideae Kunth.
▫ Papilionoideae DC. (alternative name Faboideae).
Option II
Order:
▸ Leguminales (=Fabales).
Families:
▪ Mimosaeeae R. Br.
▪ Caesalpiniaceae R. Br.
▪ Papilionaeeae Giseke (alternative name Fabaceae Lindl. (s.s.)).
A few words about Russian names of taxa. As a rule, there are no noticeable difficulties here. The order is most often called the legume order; less often in the scientific literature the name “legumeaceae” or, less successfully, “legumeaceae” appears. The family Leguminosae (Fabaceae s. l.) is usually called the legume family, and Papilionaceae (Fabaceae s. s.) is better called the moth family. By analogy, appropriate names for subfamilies can be adopted.

The legume family has two forms: herbaceous and woody. The forms, in turn, are divided into three subfamilies according to the structure of the flower: mimosa, caesalpinia and legume.

Caesalpinia and mimosa plants - live only in warm climates, and legumes grow throughout to the globe. These include widely known feed and vegetable crops: peas, beans, beans, soybeans, chickpeas, peanuts, alfalfa and clover.

All representatives of legumes have a distinctive fruit structure - a pod. When ripe, the pod opens at one or two seams. Beans come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.

The leaves of most representatives of legumes are complex: pinnate or palmate, arranged in pairs, from one to twenty pairs.

A special feature of legume roots is the presence of tubers, which are colonies of nitrogen-fixing bacteria that penetrate from the ground into the roots and cause the growth of the root system.

Nutritional value of legumes

The role of leguminous plants in human life is very great. Since ancient times, legumes have been an integral part of the diet of all peoples.

The nutritional value legumes, due to their diverse composition: proteins, large amounts, some have vegetable oil in their fruits.

Peas contain up to 28% protein, lentils – 32%, soybeans up to 40% total mass. Such indicators make legumes a cheap substitute for meat products. Vegetable oil is produced industrially from soybeans and peanuts.

Legumes are a source of B vitamins: B1, B2, B6, which have a positive effect on heart function. Fiber in products has a beneficial effect on intestinal function and saturates the body.

A very important advantage of legumes is that they do not accumulate toxic substances.

The role of leguminous plants

Forage, medicinal, industrial, melliferous, and ornamental crops also play a very important role in the life of mankind. Among forage crops, in terms of area occupied, clover is in first place, then different kinds alfalfa and camel thorn.
Valuable and medicinal plants: cassia (used as a laxative), licorice root (a raw material for the medical industry).

Some tropical species serve as a source of valuable wood of red and dark brown color. Many types of legumes produce gum, which is used in the paint and varnish and textile industries.

Legumes - special type plant crops, which differs from other grains in their increased protein content. One of the most famous representatives of legumes is peas, but this crop is characterized by much greater diversity.

Legumes

Legumes are also called pulses due to the special shape of their fruits, which are usually round or oval shape, resembling grain. However, the fruits of legumes are usually larger than those of grain crops: as a rule, they are at least 3 centimeters and can reach 1.5 meters. Most legumes have seeds enclosed in a special shell called a pod.

The nutritional value of legumes lies in the fact that at a fairly low cost they contain a significant amount of protein: on average, 100 grams of legumes contain from 22 to 25 grams of protein. This figure is significantly higher than, for example, cereals, 100 grams of which contain 8-13 grams of protein. In addition, 60-70% of the weight of a legume crop comes from the starch it contains, and another 1-3% from fat.

Types of legumes

In Russia, the most famous legumes are peas, beans and beans. They are usually prepared by drying and then used in the preparation of soups and main courses. Beans and legumes are also used to produce canned vegetables. In addition, some types of these crops are also used as forage plants, and in this case, not only the fruits, but also the remaining green parts of the plants, including the stem and leaves, are used to feed livestock.

However, the variety of legumes is not limited to this list. So, in last years Products of this group, previously poorly known on the market, began to appear in Russian stores, for example, chickpeas, chickpeas and lentils. In addition, peanuts, which are commonly considered a nut, also fall into this category.

Legumes are known all over the world. They are most often cultivated for food. They contain more vegetable protein and microelements necessary for humans.

general characteristics

Legumes are a huge family of dicotyledonous plants. The legume family has more than 18,000 thousand varieties, which represent many different genera. Leguminous plants can be represented by trees, shrubs, vines, perennials and annuals.

The legume family is divided into three main subgroups, these are such subgroups as: Caesalpinia, Mimosa, Legume or as it is also called – Moth. The differences between these subgroups are only in the structure of the inflorescence; otherwise, their descriptions are very similar.

All types of legumes have quite similar external structure, but, nevertheless, there are still some differences between all plants. It is according to them that each legume plant can be classified as one species or another.

The main difference between plants is the peculiar structure of the fruit, which is called a bean or pod. The pod is a single-locular fruit with two symmetrical valves. It contains seeds that are tightly attached to the valves.

The legume plant is most often multi-seeded, but single-seeded varieties are also found. Beans can be various sizes and shapes.

The legume plant has irregular flowers, asymmetrical shape. They are collected in cone-shaped or apical inflorescences. There can be flowers in one inflorescence different quantities. If there is only one flower, then, as a rule, it is different large size. If there is more than one, then the inflorescence is collected by many small flowers. The leaves are arranged alternately and are usually compound. Representatives with simple leaves are quite rare.

The plant of the legume family is distinguished by the specific structure of its rhizome. On the root system there are colonies of nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which form small nodules, penetrating the cells of the rhizome.

During their life activity, nitrogen-fixing bacteria synthesize nitrogen from the atmosphere and transform it into an accessible form. Thanks to this property, legumes are classified as green manure, saturating the soil with useful microelements and preventing the active proliferation of weeds. Some legumes can release up to 100-150 kg of nitrogen per year, for example, fodder beans.

Description of species

As mentioned earlier, the Moth family has a huge number of varieties, but the most common are the following species:

• Fruit;
• Feed;
• Decorative.

It is worth talking about each of them in more detail. Representatives that are classified as fruit trees:

• Chickpeas;
• Lentils;
• Peanut;
• Beans;
• Soy.

Let's take a closer look:

Broad beans

Broad beans are an annual or biennial grass that is used in organic farming as green manure.

Broad beans are represented by the following representatives:

• Red clover;
• Alfalfa sowing.

Clover is a herbaceous plant of the legume family. Clover stems can reach a height of 5 to 50 cm. Inflorescences can be of different shades, but purple flowers are most common. It is very often used in folk medicine as an anti-inflammatory and expectorant.

Clover is also used as green fodder, and silage is made from it. In addition, clover leaves are used to make essential oil and vitamin concentrates.

Alfalfa is another plant in the legume family. Alfalfa in wildlife can grow in fields, meadows and grassy slopes. It, like clover, is used as green fodder for livestock. The stems are pubescent or glabrous, strongly branched in the apical part. The stems can reach 80 cm in length. The inflorescences are purple or rich yellow.

Decorative

Such plants include:

• Acacia.

Lupine is an ornamental herbaceous annual or perennial. Lupine can also be presented as a shrub or subshrub. Lupine is popular not only as a flower for decorating flower beds, but also as a raw material for the production of oils. Vegetable oil obtained from lupine is similar in properties to olive oil.

In addition, lupine is used as green fodder. The rhizome of lupine is powerful and can reach 1-2 meters in length. The inflorescences are represented by long tassels, which consist of many flowers. The color of the flowers can be different - pink, lilac, purple or red.

Silver acacia is a tree native to the southeast coast of Australia and Tasmania.

Silver acacia is also popularly called mimosa. The crown of the acacia tree is spreading; the tree trunk can reach a height of 10 - 12 meters.

Young stems of the tree are olive green. Acacia flowers are copper-yellow, round, fluffy, and have a pleasant aroma. Inflorescences are formed by a large number of flowers.

The list of legumes can be continued for a very long time. This is one of the most common families in the world. Legumes can grow in different climatic and natural conditions and in terms of distribution they can be second only to cereals.