The legume family includes more than 18,000 representatives of the flora. Plants of various life forms are located in it: here you can find both huge trees and small grasses. The first of them mainly grow in the tropics, while the range of the second is unlimited. Their role is significant in ecosystems, since they are able to accumulate atmospheric nitrogen. Some of them have found their application in the national economy.
Botanical characteristic
The leaves of the representatives of the family are mostly pinnate, trifoliate, sometimes they are palmate, having stipules. The upper parts of the leaf sometimes transform into tendrils, and in some plants, the entire leaf.
Inflorescences are represented by heads (clover) or tassels (clover, lupine).
The flower of the legume family has a sail, a boat and oars. The first is understood as the upper large petal. The lateral ones are called oars, and the two lower ones, fused, are called a boat. The color of flowers is the mostvaried. It has 10 stamens, with 9 filaments fused, and the top one remains free, although sometimes there are exceptions.
The fruit of the legume family is called a bean, although people call it a pod, which is not entirely correct, since the latter have plants of the Cabbage family. It looks like a bean, but the arrangement of the seeds is different there. Pollination is mainly cross - with the help of bees or bumblebees. There are also self-pollinating species.
Roots have nodules. Bacteria that live in symbiosis with plants live on them, for which they capture atmospheric nitrogen. This leads to the fact that when cultivating representatives of the legume family in agricultural practice, soil fertility improves.
The value of plants
They have great feed and nutritional value. This is due to the fact that the legume family is characterized by a high protein content in seeds. Some representatives (soybeans, peanuts) also have a large mass fraction of fat. Individual plants (soybeans, lupins) contain up to 40% protein in seeds.
Legumes in the rotation leave behind a large amount of nitrogen in the soil and are a valuable predecessor for other crops that alternate with them in the rotation.
Individual representatives
Plants of the legume family include three subfamilies - Moth, Caesalpia and Mimosa.
Trees belong to the Caesalpian. Their habitat- tropics. Their most famous representative is the carob tree, from the seeds of which they make cough syrup and gum, which is used in the food industry. Its seeds have a mass of about 0.19 g, which formed the basis for the measure of the weight of jewelry - carat. The largest tree is the Malacca compass, which has a height of about 82 m and a trunk diameter of about 1.5 m.
The Mimosa subfamily includes mimosa itself, as well as many types of acacias.
The most numerous taxonomic unit of the leguminous family of the class Dicotyledonous plants is the subfamily Moth. Previously, the whole family was called that way. This includes various agricultural plants called legumes: peas, beans, chickpeas, lentils, chin, soybeans. Some of the wild ones are used in livestock feeding: clover, sainfoin, alfalfa and others.
Many plants of this family are medicinal: fenugreek, licorice, etc.
There are representatives who are famous for their decorative effect: perennial lupine, acacia, sweet peas and others.
Distribution
Characteristics of the legume family also suggests clarifying their range. They grow all over the globe. In tropical, boreal and warm climates, they form the dominant part of the local vegetation. In the cold zone, their numbers are small, but there are plants that grow in such conditions. They are able to survive in conditions of lack of moisture on clay soils, they can also grow on sands, some representatives are found in the mountains at an altitude of up to 5000 m. In the tropics and subtropics theymake up the dominant breeds.
Reproduction and movement
Seeds of members of the legume family are distributed in various ways. Most of them, which have found application in agricultural production, are self-pollinated, that is, pollination occurs with the flowers of one plant. Pollen ripens in the anther, when it is ready, the latter bursts, and it is carried by wind or insects.
Water and wind play a big role in moving. The fruits of the Malacca compass have pterygoid outgrowths, with the help of which they can scatter tens of meters. Other plants have a variety of hooks with which they cling to various animals, and those carry them to different places. In some representatives, a mature fruit can be opened by cracking with the help of two valves. They twist with force, which contributes to the spread of seeds within a radius of a meter from the plant.
Bean seeds remain viable for a long time, which in some plants can reach 10 years or more.
Nutritional composition and energy value
Plants that are part of the family under consideration differ sharply in nutritional value and calorie content of the economically valuable part, depending on the species. Thus, the beans that gave the name to the taxonomic unit contain:
- 6% protein;
- 9% carbs;
- 0, 1% fat.
At the same time, their energy value is 57 kcal per 100 g.
Soy also contains:
- more than 30% protein;
- up to 20% fat;
- about 25% carbs making it a very high calorie food.
Its energy value is about 400 kcal per 100g
Chemical composition
The main advantage of representatives of the legume family is the high content of high-quality protein. It is comparable to animal protein in terms of essential amino acids, and in some plants even surpasses it. So, pea protein contains more tryptophan compared to meat, and soy protein contains more than chicken eggs. The content of lysine in peas is 5 times more than wheat, and in soy - 10 times.
Most legumes are low in fat, making them suitable for low-calorie diets. Professional dietitians do not recommend using legume-only mono-diets.
Soybean oil contains polyunsaturated fatty acids. Their quantity is enough to break down cholesterol plaques on blood vessels. Therefore, soybeans are among the crops from which it is possible to produce products that can prevent atherosclerosis.
It is also used to make substitute products for conventional products: tofu, soy milk and others.
Plants of this family are rich in macro- and microelements, as well as vitamins. They contribute to the removal of various toxins from the body. They also remove excess cholesterol from the body.
Danger of eating legumes
The legume family (some representatives) is characterized by the presence of purine bases, which are contraindicated in vascular diseases. Also, they should not be consumed in large quantities in atherosclerosis and urolithiasis.
The same soy contains trypsin inhibitors in its composition, therefore it requires careful heat treatment.
Beans in large quantities are a heavy food for the digestive tract.
Black vetch contains hydrocyanic acid, and in large quantities can cause food poisoning.
Many of them promote gas formation in the intestines.
Symptoms of poisoning:
- headache;
- nausea;
- vomit;
- icteric epidermis;
- brown urine with a characteristic odor.
During pre-heat treatment, the risk of poisoning tends to zero.
In conclusion
Representatives of the legume family include many types of different life forms found everywhere. They enrich the soil with nitrogen, and also accumulate nitrogen in the form of protein compounds in their economically valuable part. A characteristic feature is the presence of nodule bacteria that are in symbiosis with plants. Used in the food and feed industry. However, they should be consumed in moderation, and it is better with a preliminary heat treatment.
