Important family - Fabaceae
This family was earlier called Papilionoideae which was a sub-family of family Leguminosae. It is distributed all over the world. Almost all legumes can fix nitrogen. The legume family (Leguminosae or Fabaceae) includes many important crop species such as pea, alfalfa, clover, common bean, peanut, and lentil.
Vegetative Characters
Trees, shrubs, herbs, root with root nodules
Floral characters
| Inflorescence | Racemose |
| Flower | Bisexual, Zygomorphic |
| Calyx | Sepals five, gamosepalous, Valvate/Imbricate aestivation |
| Corolla | Petals five, polypetalous, papilionaceous, consisting of a posterior standard, two lateral wings, two anterior ones forming a keel (enclosing stamens and pistil), vexillary aestivation |
| Androecium | Ten, diadelphous, anther dithecous |
| Gynoecium | Ovary superior, mono carpellary, unilocular with many ovules, style single |
| Fruit: legume; seed | One to many, non-endospermic |
| Floral Formula | % ⚥ K(5) C1+2+(2) A(9)+1 G1 |
Economic importance
Some plants belongs to the family are sources of following:
| Pulses | Gram, arhar, sem, moong, soyabean |
| Edible oil | Soyabean, groundnut |
| Dye | Indigofera |
| Fibres | Sunhemp |
| Fodder | Sesbania, Trifolium |
| Ornamentals | Lupin, sweet pea |
| Medicine | Muliathi |