Leguminous plants: fruit and ornamental. Legume family - fabaseae, or leguminosae: description Legume family trees species
The Latin name is fabaceae or papillionaceae.
Dicotyledonous class.
Description. The name of this family is determined both by the name of the fruit - a bean, and by the shape of the flower, the corolla of which outwardly resembles a flying moth. Legumes come in a wide variety of life forms, from tiny desert plants to huge trees and vines, but they all share the same traits. Their fruit is a bean, flowers are of a moth type, and nodules formed by bacteria are located on the surface of the roots. Another characteristic feature of legumes is the ability of nodule bacteria to fix nitrogen gas from the atmosphere in addition to soil nitrogen.
The legume family unites more than 17 thousand species of valuable cultural and wild plants and is subdivided into three subfamilies: mimosa, cesalpinia and moth. Its representatives are adapted to any natural conditions and are habitat formers within many plant communities, and arboreal and herbaceous forms are almost equally abundant. The largest plant in the family is the tropical hard-leaved bean tree compassia Malacca (koompassia moluccana) 82.4 m high and 1.49 m trunk diameter.
Legumes are plants that differ greatly from each other, both in terms of economic value and biologically, i.e. attitude to moisture, heat and food. In some of them, the seeds are rich in protein - these are food products (soy, peas, beans, lentils, peanuts, etc.). Many legumes are forage grasses (alfalfa, clover, lupine, camel thorn, sweet clover, etc.), which are valuable animal feed, both green and dry. There are medicinal legumes (licorice, broomstick, thermopsis), melliferous (saradella, pacelia) and even technical (crotalaria, sinegalskaya acacia). Twenty-three types of legumes are included in the Red Book of Russia.
In the tissues of the roots of moths, very mobile nodule bacteria live, ranging in size from 0.5 to 3 microns. After penetrating into the root hair, they cause intensive division of its cells, as a result of which a small growth appears - a nodule. Plants get from bacteria required amount nitrogen compounds, and these, in turn, receive vital organic substances from the plant.
All plants of the legume family, as a rule, have complex leaves: in lupine they are finger-complex, in beans, soybeans and clover they are triple-complex, in peas they are paripinnate, and in white acacia they are odd-pinnate. The arrangement of the leaves is alternate. At their base there are well-developed paired stipules in the form of either green leaves (peas) or thorns (white acacia).
Legume flower incorrect and consists of 5 dissimilar petals that have received specific names. The largest, called a sail, is a pair of neighboring, narrower and symmetrically located oars or wings, and the last two, fused along the lower edge, are called a boat, inside which, surrounded by 10 stamens, a pistil is placed. All flowers are single or collected in inflorescences: a brush (lupine, peas), a head (clover), or a simple umbrella (lyadvenets). Their number in the inflorescence is different, up to one, but then enough big size... Formula of moth flowers: H (5) L 1 + 2 + (2) T 1+ (4 + 5) P 1 or Ca (5) Co 1 + 2 + (2) A 1+ (4 + 5) G 1
Legume, called a bean, and in the people - a pod, has a special structure and develops from a single carpel. It is a kind of unilocular fruit with two valves, to the inside of which seeds are attached. In some species of moth (single-seeded) bean seed only one, most others (polyspermous) have several. When ripe, the fruit opens one at a time (for representatives of the subfamily Caesalpiniaceae) or two seams. Beans come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. The largest, reaching a length of up to 1.5 m, is in the climbing eptada (Enlacia scaridens). It is also the largest in the world.
Spreading. Plants of the moth family grow on all continents from the tropics to the polar islands and in different natural areas from deserts to humid forests and swamps. In most countries of temperate, tropical and boreal climates, they constitute the bulk of the local flora. Only in places with a cold climate is the share of their participation relatively small. Representatives of legumes have perfectly adapted to the lack of moisture in infertile clay soils, mobile sands and are even able to climb mountains to heights of up to 5 thousand meters. In the humid tropics and subtropics, they are often included in forests as the main species.
Reproduction of moth characterized by the type of pollination and a wide variety of seed distribution methods. Many grain legumes (peas, soybeans, beans, some types of lupine, etc.) are self-pollinators. Their pollination occurs with the flowers of one plant. When the pollen is fully ripe, the anther of the stamen bursts, and it is carried by insects or the wind.
Wind and water play a critical role in the movement of legumes. Pterygoid outgrowths sometimes allow the fruit to glide freely for tens of meters, like in the tropical Malacca compassion tree. A variety of outgrowths or tiny thorns that act as hooks promote the dispersal of plants by animals. There are also known facts when a ripe fruit cracks, opening with two valves. At this moment, the shutters simultaneously twist with force, scattering the seeds a meter away from the parent plant. Under favorable storage conditions, beans seeds are able to give excellent germination even after a decade.
All adults and even children know beans and peas, beans and lentils, fragrant acacias and clovers, peanuts and mimosa, and yet, all these are plants of the legume family (or moths). An extensive group, it is difficult to overestimate the benefits of which for a person. We eat these plants, plant them for beauty, improve the soil with their help, use wood, dye clothes and even heal.
Legumes family: general characteristics
Familiar to everyone from school, the family unites a huge number of species, according to rough estimates, about 17-18 thousand. Botanists divide it into three subfamilies (based on the structure of the flower): cesalpinia, mimosa, moth. It is interesting to note that legumes include the genus Astragalus, the largest in the number of species among the flowering species (about 2400). Plants of this family have a fairly large growing area both in the hot tropics (mainly cesalpine and mimosa) and in the Far North, in deserts and savannas.
Nitrogen fixation is distinctive feature the whole family. Roots legumes have nodules that are formed as a result of the proliferation of parenchymal tissue. And this, in turn, is explained by the introduction and dispersal of nitrogen-fixing bacteria belonging to the genus Rhizobium inside the plant. They have an amazing ability to absorb and accumulate atmospheric nitrogen, which is then used by the plant itself for its growth. Such large reserves are vital important element also have a good effect on the environment. Legumes are great for improving soil fertility. This is widely used both on an industrial scale and by literate and knowledgeable gardeners who do not forget to alternate planting different crops in their area. Every year they return about 100-140 kilograms of nitrogen back to the soil per hectare.
The structure of the leaves of leguminous plants
Leguminous plants can have a variety of leaf shapes. They can be conditionally divided into several groups:
- paired pinnate and doubly pinnate (peas, yellow acacia) leaves, they are located on both sides of the stem;
- simplified (reduced to one apical leaf);
- falsely simple, formed as a result of accretion of two apical leaves;
- phyllodia (in African species of acacia) - flattened leaf stalks.
Leguminous plants are characterized by an amazing property - paired leaves can fold overnight. This is due to the fact that there are thickenings at the base of the petioles, which, due to a change in turgor, set the leaf blade or only the leaves in motion. For example, bashful mimosa is able to do this instantly, since even a light touch of its leaves causes an instant loss of osmotic pressure in them. This property was noticed a very long time ago and was the reason for the plant to be called that way.
Flower and inflorescence
Leguminous plants can have different inflorescences, but most often it is a panicle or brush, sometimes capitate brushes (clover), much less often they are reduced to one flower. For representatives of the family, cross-pollination is characteristic, in which pollen from one flower is transferred to another much less often by insects (bees, bumblebees) or bats and birds in tropical species.
The flowers of leguminous plants can be zygomorphic or actinomorphic (for example, in mimosa plants). The calyx usually consists of four, less often of five sepals, which grow together. There are 5 petals (in all moths and some representatives of the other two subfamilies) or 4. Their name and division are very interesting, depending on the function performed. So, the top and largest is called "flag", it attracts insects that pollinate the plant. The petals located on the sides are called wings, and this is a kind of "landing site". The innermost ones tend to grow together along the bottom edge to form a boat that protects the stamens and pistil from non-pollinating insects. But, for example, in mimosa, all the petals are of the same shape - free or accrete.
Legume fruits
In this case, there is an absolute unity of all species of the family. The fruit is called a pod (single or polyspermous), which opens along the dorsal or ventral suture. The seeds inside the fruit are large enough, with or without endosperm, and the cotyledons are well developed. The appearance of the bean can be absolutely any, as well as the size. In some species, its length reaches one and a half meters. The spread of seeds sometimes occurs independently, when the valves of the fruit, when opened, twist in a spiral, and they fly in different directions, for example, in acacia. Some tropical species are carried by animals or birds. The ovary of the familiar peanut (peanut) due to negative geotropism, that is, the ability to grow and develop in a certain direction, when formed, goes into the soil by 8-10 cm, where the fruit then develops.
The value of legumes in the farm
Plants of the legume family occupy practical relevance for a person the second place after cereals. Among them are a huge number of food crops of global importance: soybeans, peas, beans, peanuts, chickpeas, lentils and many others. Some of them have been cultivated by people for more than the first millennium.
Leguminous plants are of great importance as forage grasses, this category includes: clover, alfalfa, lupine, sainfoin, etc. Some tropical members of the family (for example, log tree, pericopsis, dalbergia) are a source of valuable and highly decorative wood, painted pink, almost red, dark brown or almost black in color.
Ornamental and medicinal value
There is decorative species among legumes, such as wisteria. This arboreal originally from China with large aromatic racemes. A very popular garden and park plant. Another representative is the whitewashed acacia, which is widespread on the Black Sea coast. From herbaceous in gardens, for example, sweet peas, lupins are grown. Everyone is familiar with the indigo color, but few people know that the dye of the same name is obtained from the indigo dye plant, a small shrub from the legume family.
Some species have long been used in medicine: fenugreek, astragalus, sweet clover, etc. Everyone is familiar with licorice, or licorice naked. It is a herbaceous legume that is widely used throughout the world as medicine from cough (healing properties have been known since the times Ancient egypt). Its roots and rhizomes are used for this. In some European countries, liquorice candies are very popular, which even children love. They have a characteristic glossy black color.
V the legume family there are about 12 thousand species of plants. Among legumes, there are many annual and perennial herbaceous plants, trees and shrubs. Most of the herbaceous species of the family are concentrated in countries with temperate and even cold climates, trees and shrubs are mainly represented in the tropics and subtropics.
Of cultivated edible legumes in Russia, peas, beans, soybeans, lentils, beans, chickpeas and some others are especially widespread. Clover, alfalfa, broad beans and vetch provide high-calorie feed for farm animals.
Ornamental legumes are also widespread: yellow acacia, sweet pea, in the south - white acacia and wisteria.
Many plants from the legume family grow in meadows (clover, sweet clover, rank), in forests (vetch), in steppes and semi-deserts (astragalus, camel thorn, licorice).
Rice. 44. Legumes. A - peas; B - red clover: 1 - flower, 2 - sail, 3 - oars, 4 - boat, 5 - bean fruit, 6 - nodules
The fruit of plants of this family - bean(. 44). The flower has a peculiar five-petal, bilaterally symmetrical corolla. Each of the petals has its own name: upper- sail, 2 side - paddles, and 2 lower fused - boat: head (for clover) or (for lupine, sweet clover, etc.).
Peas
Beans... This
Soy
Vika
Red clover
Lupine
Sail, 2 side - paddles, and 2 lower fused - boat... The petals of the boat cover the pistil, surrounded by 9 accrete and one free stamens. Legume flowers are collected in: head (for clover) or (for lupine, sweet clover, etc.).
The leaves and inflorescences of legumes are not the same for different plant species. In some legumes, the leaves are trifoliate (like in clover), in others (for example, soybeans, beans, peas, acacia and vetch) - pinnate, in others - palmate (like lupine).
On the roots of leguminous plants, nodules are formed, in which they settle, binding molecular nitrogen in the air and enriching the soil with nitrogen compounds.
Peas... A typical plant of the legume family - common peas - one of the oldest cultivated plants(Fig. 44, A). It comes from wild species peas found in the subalpine meadows of the Caucasus Mountains, Afghanistan, India. Peas - annual herbaceous plant... Leaves are compound, ending in branched tendrils that cling to props or neighboring plants and thus support a thin, weak stem. The flower and the fruit have a structure characteristic of the family. There are about 10 seeds in a pea bean, which contain a large amount of proteins, which determines their high nutritional value. Due to the symbiosis with nodule bacteria, peas, like other legumes, are distinguished by a high content of nitrogen and, consequently, proteins. Its roots, rotting, enrich the soil with nitrogen. Crops following peas and other legumes receive nitrogen fertilization in this way.
Beans... This one unites about 200 different types of legumes, distributed mainly in the tropics. About 20 species have been introduced into the culture. This is a plant with trifoliate large leaves and climbing stems. and the fruit of the bean is similar to the structure of the flower and fruit of the pea. Bean seeds are high in protein. It is cultivated mainly in the southern regions.
Soy... It is cultural annual plant similar to beans, but with a thick, coarse, erect stem. Reaches a height of 1 m. The homeland of soybeans is China. It is widespread in Japan, the CIS, and the USA. In the CIS, this most valuable plant is cultivated mainly in the Far East, Central Asia, the North Caucasus, Ukraine and Moldova. 100 g of soybean seeds contain up to 45 g of protein, up to 27 g of vegetable oil and up to 20 g of starch. Soy protein is well absorbed and is not inferior in nutritional value to meat. Soybean oil is used in cooking, in the production of margarine, and in soap making. Soy flour is used to prepare food products: bread, sweets, cream, sauces. Soybean oil contains valuable vitamins. Soy tops are used for livestock feed.
Vika... Annual vetch is cultivated as a valuable forage grass for hay or green mass. Leaves are compound, paired, ending in a tendril. A flower with a white, pink or purple corolla. The fruit is a bean. Since the vetch's stem is weak, lodging, it is grown in a mixture with oats. Oat stalks support the vetch: the leafy tendrils of the vetch curl around the oat stalks and support the plant in an upright position.
Red clover, or red (Fig. 44, B). It is cultivated mainly in the non-chernozem zone. Perennial herb with trifoliate leaves and red globular inflorescences - heads. The flowers are small. Cross-pollination is carried out by insects. The corolla tube of clover is long, so only insects with a long proboscis - bumblebees, sometimes bees - can get nectar and produce pollination. The fruit of the clover is a single-seeded pod. After sowing clover, like other legumes, the soil is enriched with nitrogen salts.
In addition to red clover, over 60 types of clovers are found in the CIS. All clovers are valuable forage plants.
Lupine... Of great importance in agriculture is a lupine-legume plant with palmate leaves. It is grown for green manure, especially for improving sandy soils. For this, the grown lupine is plowed into the soil. This green fertilizer enriches the soil with nitrogen salts and increases its fertility.
The legume family has another name - Butterflies. This family belongs to the class of Dicotyledonous plants. It includes a huge number of plants.
Among the common features of all plants of the legume family, the following should be noted. The flowers of the representatives of the family are incorrect. They have five petals, differing in shape and size, and ten stamens. Legumes have a characteristic structure. Their name corresponds to the name of the family - bob. TO common features The fact that the ovary is always single-membered, not divided into lobes also applies. The fruit is always bivalve, in most cases polyspermous. Single-seeded is found only in plants of the Clover genus. When the seeds are ripe, the fruit bursts along the seam. The seeds are attached directly to the valves.
The legume family is very large. It includes over two hundred genera and over six thousand species. Legumes grow all over the world, in all latitudes and climates. They are found in alpine meadows and the High North, as well as in deserts and rainforests.
In the family, herbaceous forms and trees with shrubs are almost equal in number.
The large family is divided into three subfamilies: the legumes proper, which include the largest number of representatives, Mimosa and Caesalpinia, which grow exclusively in warm climates.
Representatives of the legume subfamily have a two-symmetrical flower. It consists of a non-falling calyx containing five sepals, a corolla of five petals, ten stamens and a pistil. The petals of the opened flower resemble a moth with open wings. From this came the name moth. Also, the flower is often compared to a boat. The largest petal is called a sail, the side small symmetrical petals are called oars, and the lower ones fused together are called a boat. It is in the boat that the pistil and ten stamens are located, of which nine are fused, and one is free (in most species of the subfamily). The accrete stamens form a plate that encloses the pistil.
The leaf blade of legumes is usually complex. They can be feathery, gripping with large quantity leaflets. Often in these plants and stipules, which can reach significant sizes, in some cases larger than the leaves themselves. Antennae are frequent elements. They develop on top of compound leaves. Antennae are both simple and branching.
The legume subfamily includes many genera of ubiquitous plants: beans, lupines, lentils, soybeans, vetch and many others.
Significantly fewer genera belong to the Caesalpiniaceae subfamily. This group is distinguished by less irregularity of flowers. They have non-accrete all ten stamens and non-accrete lower petals, which form a boat in plants of the legume subfamily. The fruits of the Caesalpiniaceae open at one seam or do not open at all. This subfamily includes genera, Caesalpinia, Tamarind, Carob and some others.
Even fewer genera are included in the Mimosa subfamily. They only grow in warm climates. Flowers are small, almost regular, collected in dense inflorescences of the head, and sometimes in a brush. The number of sepals and petals ranges from four to six. The number of stamens ranges from four to an indefinite number. Mimosa leaves are usually bipinnate and have small lobes. The fruit is a standard bean with no major differences. The most striking representatives of mimosa are bashful mimosa, real acacia and some others.
The legume family is an extensive group that includes a variety of representatives. There are also medicinal plants in it. These include medicinal galega, healing ulcer, red clover and many others.
If we consider the economic importance of legumes, it is worth noting that they are second only to cereals. For a long time, the fruits of leguminous plants have been used for food and now they are the most important food product. They cultivate beans, peas, beans, soybeans and peanuts, mung bean. There are tropical legumes of the genus Pachyzirus, which form tubers, which are also eaten.
In addition to food, there are forage legumes such as clover, alfalfa, lupine, vetch.
Legumes also provide valuable wood. First of all, these are trees belonging to the genera Acacia and Prozopis. Valuable wood is provided by Afromosia golden, dalbergia, pterocarpus and many other tropical trees belonging to the legume family.
