Fabales

Fabales, order of dicotyledonous flowering plants in the Rosid I group among the core eudicots. The order comprises 4 families (Fabaceae, Polygalaceae, Quillajaceae, and Surianaceae), 754 genera, and more than 20,000 species. However, more than 95 percent of the genera and species belong to Fabaceae, the legume family. Fabaceae is the third largest family of angiosperms, exceeded only by Asteraceae (aster or sunflower family) and Orchidaceae (orchid family). Along with Poaceae (the grass family), Fabaceae is the most important plant family in the production of food for humans and livestock, as well as in the production of industrial products.

root nodules

Because they develop bacteria-harbouring root nodules that maintain the nitrogen balance in the soil, which is necessary for plant growth, the legumes are also an essential element in nature and in agriculture. Legumes are perhaps best known by their more common cultivated names, such as peas, beans, soybeans, peanuts (groundnuts), alfalfa (lucerne), and clover. The characteristic fruit of most legumes is a pod (legume) consisting, in essence, of an ovary that is a tightly folded leaf, as in a pea pod. The pod normally splits into two halves when mature.