legume provide howling economical , ornamental , and food value to humans . One of the turgid plant families , Fabaceae ( formerly Leguminoseae ) , are found on all continents except Antarctica . Legumes , with or without theme spines , take the plant forms of trees , bush , herb and climb vine . Examples include soybeans , alfalfa , trefoil , pea , bean , and the royal poinciana and favourable shower tropic trees .

Foliage

The folio of all legumes are greatly wide-ranging , but a coarse characteristic is that they are always arranged alternately on stem , comprising several leaflets on one overall leafage ( pinnately compound ) . Legume leaflets are normally arranged opposite each other , while other species ' leave look like a fingered hand ( palmately compound ) . Some legume leafage types let in three - lobed leaves and those with simple , entire leaf blades . The stem of leave and cusp ( leafstalk ) typically bring out swollen al-Qa’ida .

Flowers

Three distinct , otherwise shaped flower types exist among legume . Taxonomists ordinarily aggroup these as subfamilies , while some choose to regale them as separate industrial plant families unto themselves . The subfamily Caesalpinioideae bear flower that have bilaterally symmetric symmetry – only one axis line can be suck up to make two identical , mirroring sides of the blossom . One petal differs , look like a lip or " standard . " The subfamily Mimosoideae develops bloom that display radiate correspondence , looking similar no matter where a bisecting axis is drawn . Simply put , legume flowers are spherical and resemble hairy pompoms . Lastly , the subfamily Papilionoideae flush look " butterfly stroke - like . " In other words , these blossoms resemble those of the pea plant – one received petal with two sidelong annex petal and two low petal mix into a keel .

Fruits

The flowers of all legume plants develop into fuel pod , two - valved fruit that separate on two axis when dry to reveal and caducous seeds . The size , shape and color of these seedpod vary by legume species , but in general are nutritive , specially those in subfamily Papilionioideae , which are rich in protein . This subfamily contains many food crop such as sugar and snow pea , the full gamut of dome like soybeans and garden variety types such as lima , pinto , unripe or jaundiced wax .

Nitrogen Fixation

A primal feature of the root systems of legume is their ability to fix atmospherical N , making it usable in soil . Thus , legumes act to fertilize soils by add atomic number 7 for exercise by other flora . This occur when beneficial soil bacteria fuse and proliferate on the roots of legume . Interestingly , only plants in the subfamilies Papilionoideae and Mimosoideae effectively fixate N and improve soils in their vicinity . Few if any plants in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae provide this benefit , according to the International Legume Database & Information Service .

References

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