They are generally hermaphroditic and have a short hypanthium, usually cup-shaped. The flowers often have five generally fused sepals and five free petals. Two petals have been removed to show stamens and pistil In some Acacia, the modified hollow stipules are inhabited by ants and are known as domatia.Ī flower of Wisteria sinensis, Faboideae. Extrafloral nectaries are common among the Mimosoideae and the Caesalpinioideae, and are also found in some Faboideae (e.g. Many species have leaves with structures that attract ants which protect the plant from herbivore insects (a form of mutualism). In some species, leaflets have evolved into tendrils (e.g. Both the leaves and the leaflets often have wrinkled pulvini to permit nastic movements. Leaf margins are entire or, occasionally, serrate. They always have stipules, which can be leaf-like (e.g. Lupinus), in the Mimosoideae and the Caesalpinioideae commonly bipinnate (e.g. Trifolium, Medicago) and rarely palmately compound (e.g. Caragana and Robinia respectively), often trifoliate (e.g. Most often they are even- or odd- pinnately compound (e.g. The leaves are usually alternate and compound. Plants can be heliophytes, mesophytes, or xerophytes. The latter support themselves by means of shoots that twist around a support or through cauline or foliar tendrils. They are upright plants, epiphytes, or vines. The herbaceous plants can be annuals, biennials, or perennials, without basal or terminal leaf aggregations. The Fabaceae have a wide variety of growth forms, including trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants, and even vines or lianas. The flowers have a short hypanthium and a single carpel with a short gynophore, and after fertilization produce fruits that are legumes. Plants have indeterminate inflorescences, which are sometimes reduced to a single flower. Leguminosae is an older name still considered valid, and refers to the fruit of these plants, which are called legumes.įabaceae range in habit from giant trees (like Koompassia excelsa) to small annual herbs, with the majority being herbaceous perennials. The term "faba" comes from Latin, and appears to simply mean "bean". The name 'Fabaceae' comes from the defunct genus Faba, now included in Vicia. A number of species are also weedy pests in different parts of the world, including: Cytisus scoparius (broom), Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust), Ulex europaeus (gorse), Pueraria montana (kudzu), and a number of Lupinus species. The family Fabaceae includes a number of plants that are common in agriculture, including Glycine max ( soybean), Phaseolus (beans), Pisum sativum ( pea), Cicer arietinum ( chickpeas), Vicia faba ( broad bean), Medicago sativa ( alfalfa), Arachis hypogaea ( peanut), Ceratonia siliqua (carob), Trigonella foenum-graecum ( fenugreek), and Glycyrrhiza glabra ( liquorice). Īlong with the cereals, some fruits and tropical roots, a number of Leguminosae have been a staple human food for millennia and their use is closely related to human evolution. These studies confirm that the Fabaceae are a monophyletic group that is closely related to the families Polygalaceae, Surianaceae and Quillajaceae and that they belong to the order Fabales. This conclusion has been supported not only by the degree of interrelation shown by different groups within the family compared with that found among the Leguminosae and their closest relations, but also by all the recent phylogenetic studies based on DNA sequences. Recent molecular and morphological evidence supports the fact that the Fabaceae is a single monophyletic family. Fabaceae is the most common family found in tropical rainforests and dry forests of the Americas and Africa. 19,000 known legume species amount to about 7% of flowering plant species. The five largest genera of the family are Astragalus (over 3,000 species), Acacia (over 1,000 species), Indigofera (around 700 species), Crotalaria (around 700 species), and Mimosa (around 400 species), which constitute about a quarter of all legume species. The family is widely distributed, and is the third-largest land plant family in number of species, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with about 765 genera and nearly 20,000 known species. It includes trees, shrubs, and perennial or annual herbaceous plants, which are easily recognized by their fruit ( legume) and their compound, stipulate leaves. iː, - ˌ aɪ/) or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, are a large and agriculturally important family of flowering plants. Legumes are found in four major biomes: tropical forest, temperate, grass, and succulent. Papilionoideae DC.)įabaceae distribution map.
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