Legume
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 Kudzu
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Caesalpinioideae | ||||||||||
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| GRIN-CA 2002-09-01 |
Legumes are members of the Fabaceae (also called Leguminosae) family of flowering plants. They are one of the largest plant families and include beans, peas, peanuts, lupins, alfalfa, clover, and many others.
The word "legume" can also refer to the type of fruit which is characteristic of most of them. A legume in this sense is a simple dry fruit which develops from a simple carpel and usually dehisces (opens along a seam) on two sides. A common name for this type of fruit is a "pod", although pod is also applied to a few other fruit types.
The term is derived from the French word "légume" (which, however, has a wider meaning and refers to any kind of vegetable). The French word comes from the Latin legumen, which means "anything that can be gathered."
Nitrogen fixation
Most legumes, through a symbiotic relationship with certain bacteria called rhizobia, are able to take nitrogen from the air and "fix" it, that is change it into ammonia is used by plants. The nitrogen is then available to be used by animals which eat the legume plants and by other plants when it is absorbed by the soil after the legumes' death.
This is tremendously important since nitrogen is an essential part of amino acids and nucleic acids both of which are essential to all life.
Nitrogen fixing legumes form nodules on their roots in which the bacteria live, being fed carbohydrates by the plant, and in which nitrogen is produced and stored.
Legumes in nature
Acacia
Acacia trees, genus Acacia, are also legumes. There are about 1300 species which grow world-wide, mostly in dry tropical to warm-temperate regions.
Kudzu
Kudzu, Pueraria lobata, is another well-known legume. It is native to eastern Asia and was introduced from Japan to the United States as livestock fodder and as a groundcover to control erosion. Because of its rapid growth and great size, it can grow as much as 30 cm (12 inches) a day in the right conditions, it has become an harmful invasive species in much of the Southeast. It replaces native vegetation, even killing trees by covering them and cutting off their access to sunlight.
Cultivation
Farmed legumes fall into two classes: forage and grain.
- Forage legumes, like alfalfa, clover and vetch, are sown in pasture and grazed by livestock.
- Grain legumes are cultivated for their seeds, and are also called pulses. The seeds are used for human and animal consumption or for the production of oils for industrial uses. Grain legumes include beans, lentils, lupins, peas and peanuts.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- European association for grain legume research, Website AEP
- Mediterrasian - Article discussing health benefits of eating legumes
- University of Minnestota, 2003, "Forage Legumes"[1]
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