General information about legumes
Legumes (lat. Fabaceae & Leguminosae, by fruits), or Papillonaceae (by flowers) is the name of a very large family of plants from the class of dicotyledons. The flowers of all representatives are irregular, consisting of five unequal petals, with 10 stamens, and the fruits have a characteristic structure that has earned the special botanical term “bean”. A common feature of the entire family is that the flowers always have a single-membered ovary - solid, not divided into lobes, unilocular, and the fruit in all is bivalve, unilocular, multi-seeded (single-seeded in Trifolium clover), bursting along two seams of the valves, to which they are attached seeds, even in odd spaces.
This huge family, numbering up to 6,600 species and more than 200 genera, is distributed throughout the globe and has its representatives in all latitudes, from the Far North and alpine meadows to the equator. Herbaceous and woody forms are almost equally abundant in this family, which, in its broadest outlines, is divided into the following three subfamilies: mimosa, caesalpiniaceae and legumes, which, in fact, make up the vast majority of the entire family. Mimosa and caesalpiniaceae are inhabitants of exceptionally warm climates, while legumes actually account for all other climatic zones of the globe.
Botanical description. Legumes have irregular, bisymmetrical flowers consisting of a 5-lobed, non-deciduous calyx, 5-petalled corolla, 10 stamens and a pistil; The petals of a fully blossomed flower are similar to the figure of a flying moth, which is where the very name of the flowers and the entire family comes from ( best examples– peas and sweet peas). On the other hand, the same flower is likened to a boat; the largest unpaired petal is called the sail (vexillum), followed by a pair of identical and narrower petals, symmetrically located, these are wings (alae), or oars; finally, two more equal petals have grown together along their lower edge, forming a very distinct boat (carina); in this boat lie the pistil and stamens, of which in most species one is completely free, and 9 are fused with their threads (to varying heights in different genera and species) into one common plate enclosing the pistil. The leaves of legumes are mostly complex and most often pinnate or palmate (clover, lupine), from one to 20 or more pairs of leaflets; Stipules are very characteristic of this family, characteristic of most species and sometimes exceeding the size of the leaves themselves (in peas and many others); Antennae are also very common, both simple and branched, ending in petioles of complex leaves. Of the huge number of genera belonging to this subfamily, it is enough to point out the well-known ones for their applications: Peanut (Arachis), Astragalus (Astragalus), Beans (Faba), Vetch (Vicia), Peas (Pisum), Sweet clover (Melilotus), Caragana ( Caragana), Clover (Trifolium), Lupine (Lupinus), Alfalfa (Medicago), Soybean (Glycine), Bean (Phaseolus), Lentil (Lens) and many others. Legumes are one of the richest families in terms of the abundance of representatives useful to humans.
Caesalpinicae, with its few genera, are distinguished by significantly less irregular colors; the two petals of the “boat” no longer grow together, so the boat itself does not exist; the stamens are also all free; the fruit is a bean that opens only along one seam, and not along two, as in the previous subfamily, or does not open at all; There are also forms without petals, such as the famous “sweet horns”, Ceratonia Siliqua, which have only 5 stamens; In addition to this genus, which does not grow wild in Russia, a good representative of the Caesalpiniaceae is our Crimean shrub, even a tree - “Judas tree”, or “Judaea tree” (Cercis siliquastrum), in Tatar “Muse-agach”, blooming early spring, up to the leaves, with large bright pink flowers; Its leaves are completely whole and round. Other more well-known genera include Caesalpinia, Gleditschia, Cassia, Bauhinia, Tamarind and Ceratonis.
Mimosa (Mimoseae), with an even smaller number of genera, natives, as already said, of the warm zone. The flowers are generally small, collected in dense inflorescences - heads, less often brushes, and almost regular; this subfamily can be called legumes with the right colors; the number of flower parts ranges from 4 to 6, although quintuple is more common; stamens from 4 to indefinite number; Most leaves are bipinnate with small lobes. There are no special differences in the structure of the fruits. Good examples are Mimosa pudica, which folds its leaves and lowers its petioles at the slightest irritation, Acacia Julibrissin, Acacia Catehu, Sandalwood Pterocarpus (Santali Lignum), and a shrub growing in the Caucasus - "Tulle". -ebrishim", that is, Silk tree.
Healing properties and uses. Galega officinalis or Goat's rue. In folk medicine it is used to enhance milk secretion in nursing mothers and as a remedy for diabetes. It is also considered a diuretic.
Dipteryx fragrant. Active ingredients: coumarin and its derivatives, fatty oil, starch, gums, essential oil, sitosterol and a number of other substances. It is used to improve the smell of smoking, as well as medicinal and snuff tobacco.
Dying gorse. This medicinal plant used in folk medicine as a tonic after a serious illness, as a blood purifier and to remove stones and sand from the bladder. In addition, gorse is also recommended for constipation, rheumatic and gouty pain, against delayed menstruation and for minor heart complaints.
Zharnovets paniculata. First of all, Zharnovets acts on the conduction system of the heart; pathologically accelerated formation of impulses and increased excitability of the conduction system are reduced. The patient's condition improves with atrial and ventricular flutter, as well as with extrasystole. They can treat cardiac arrhythmia of various origins. The great advantage of this medicinal plant is its good tolerance even with long-term use, when a long course of treatment is necessary. But only a doctor can prescribe Zharnovets, and it should be taken only under the supervision of a doctor.
Cabbage tree. Chrysarobin, extracted from the resin of the cabbage tree, is a skin cleanser; it is still used in the form of solutions and ointments for skin diseases (for example, psoriasis).
Malabar cinema. Kino raw materials contain tannins and are used as a stomach fixative. Included in dental elixirs that relieve inflammation of the oral mucosa.
Kopai tree. Copai balsam is used to disinfect the bronchi.
Muira-puama. Pharmaceutical raw materials Muira-Puama - Muira-Puama lignum is used as a sexual aphrodisiac for men and women.
Piscidian tree. Sometimes used as component soothing and sleeping teas. In America it is used as a sleeping pill.
Licorice naked. In folk medicine, for coughs and other colds, licorice root powder mixed with honey is often used: 1/2 teaspoon of powder mixed with 1 teaspoon of honey, taken 3 times a day. For stomach ulcers and other gastric diseases, it is recommended to chew small pieces of the root. This also helps in relieving hangover symptoms. Areas of application: to facilitate expectoration in case of catarrh of the upper respiratory tract (bronchitis), for the treatment of spastic phenomena during inflammation of the gastric mucosa (chronic gastritis).
Prickly steelweed. Modern traditional medicine uses this medicinal plant to combat fluid retention, to stimulate metabolism for stones in the bladder and kidneys, for articular rheumatism and gout, for skin rashes and weeping eczema.
Beans. Tea from the leaves of beans has been used in home medicine since ancient times as a diuretic for urinary retention and edema, for urolithiasis, as well as for kidney inflammation, bladder diseases, rheumatism, sciatica and gout. Naturally, traditional medicine is trying to use beans together with blueberry leaves for sugar disease.
Physostigma poisonous or Calabar bush. How medicine used only in veterinary medicine for colic. In the form of a salt of salicylic acid, it is used to lower intraocular pressure in glaucoma. Serves as a raw material for the production of the poisonous alkaloid physostigmine.
Healing ulcer. In many areas, ulcer remains one of the favorite home remedies. Together with plantain, it is used to make tea, which is used to treat wounds and against coughs. Plantain contains substances with an antibacterial effect and this mixture gives good results in the treatment of wounds.
Bean leaves are also used to cleanse the skin and as a remedy for eczema. Another legume plant, clover, is also used in folk medicine. It is used against many diseases, but mainly in rural areas, most likely because there is an unlimited supply there. Delicious tea is made from it. Clover tea, sweetened with honey (not for diabetics), is a good remedy for coughs and liver diseases. It is also considered an excellent blood purifier.
The legume family has two forms: herbaceous and woody. The forms, in turn, are divided into three subfamilies according to the structure of the flower: mimosa, caesalpinia and legume.
Caesalpinia and mimosa plants live only in warm climates, and legumes grow throughout the globe. These include well-known forage and vegetable crops: peas, beans, beans, soybeans, chickpeas, peanuts, alfalfa and clover.
All representatives of legumes have a distinctive fruit structure - a pod. When ripe, the pod opens at one or two seams. Beans come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.
The leaves of most representatives of legumes are complex: pinnate or palmate, arranged in pairs, from one to twenty pairs.
A special feature of legume roots is the presence of tubers, which are colonies of nitrogen-fixing bacteria that penetrate from the ground into the roots and cause the growth of the root system.
Role leguminous plants V human life very big. Since ancient times, food representatives of legumes have been integral part diet of all peoples.
The nutritional value of legumes is due to their diverse composition: proteins, large amounts, some have vegetable oil in their fruits.
Peas contain up to 28% protein, lentils – 32%, soybeans up to 40% of the total mass. Such indicators make legumes cheap substitute for meat food products. From soy and peanuts industrially get vegetable oil.
Legumes are a source of B vitamins: B1, B2, B6, which have a positive effect on heart function. Fiber in products has a beneficial effect on intestinal function and saturates the body.
A very important advantage of legumes is that they do not accumulate toxic substances.
Forage, medicinal, industrial, melliferous, and ornamental crops also play a very important role in the life of mankind. Among forage crops, in terms of area occupied, clover is in first place, followed by various types of alfalfa and camel thorn.
Medicinal plants are also valuable: cassia (used as a laxative), licorice root (a raw material for the medical industry).
Some tropical species serve as a source of valuable red and dark brown. Many types of legumes produce gum, which is used in paint and varnish. textile industry.
Legumes are a special type of plant crop that differs from other grains increased content squirrel. One of the most famous representatives of legumes is peas, but this crop is characterized by much great variety.
Legumes are also called pulses due to the special shape of their fruits, which are usually round or oval in shape, resembling a grain. However, the fruits of legumes are usually larger than those of grain crops: as a rule, they are at least 3 centimeters and can reach 1.5 meters. Most legumes have seeds enclosed in a special shell called a pod.
The nutritional value of legumes lies in the fact that at a fairly low cost they contain a significant amount of protein: on average, 100 grams of legumes contain from 22 to 25 grams of protein. This figure is significantly higher than, for example, cereals, 100 grams of which contain 8-13 grams of protein. In addition, 60-70% of the weight of a legume crop comes from the starch it contains, and another 1-3% from fat.
In Russia, the most famous legumes are peas, beans and beans. They are usually prepared by drying and then used in the preparation of soups and main courses. Beans and legumes are also used to produce canned vegetables. In addition, some types of these crops are also used as forage plants, and in this case, not only the fruits, but also the remaining green parts of the plants, including the stem and leaves, are used to feed livestock.
However, the variety of legumes is not limited to this list. So, in last years Products of this group, previously poorly known on the market, began to appear in Russian stores, for example, chickpeas, chickpeas and lentils. In addition, peanuts, which are commonly considered a nut, also fall into this category.
Legumes are known all over the world. They are most often cultivated for food. They contain more vegetable protein and microelements necessary for humans.
Legumes are a huge family of dicotyledonous plants. The legume family has more than 18,000 thousand varieties, which represent many different genera. Leguminous plants can be represented by trees, shrubs, vines, perennials and annuals.
The legume family is divided into three main subgroups, these are such subgroups as: Caesalpinia, Mimosa, Legume or as it is also called – Moth. The differences between these subgroups are only in the structure of the inflorescence; otherwise, their descriptions are very similar.
All types of legumes have quite similar external structure, but, nevertheless, there are still some differences between all plants. It is according to them that each legume plant can be classified as one species or another.
The main difference between plants is the peculiar structure of the fruit, which is called a bean or pod. The pod is a single-locular fruit with two symmetrical valves. It contains seeds that are tightly attached to the valves.
The legume plant is most often multi-seeded, but single-seeded varieties are also found. Beans can come in different sizes and shapes.
The legume plant is distinguished by flowers of irregular, asymmetrical shape. They are collected in cone-shaped or apical inflorescences. There can be flowers in one inflorescence different quantities. If there is only one flower, then, as a rule, it is large in size. If there is more than one, then the inflorescence is collected by many small flowers. The leaves are arranged alternately and are usually compound. Representatives with simple leaves are quite rare.
The plant of the legume family is distinguished by the specific structure of its rhizome. On the root system there are colonies of nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which form small nodules, penetrating the cells of the rhizome.
During their life activity, nitrogen-fixing bacteria synthesize nitrogen from the atmosphere and transform it into an accessible form. Thanks to this property, legumes are classified as green manure, saturating the soil with useful microelements and preventing the active proliferation of weeds. Some legumes can release up to 100-150 kg of nitrogen per year, for example, fodder beans.
As mentioned earlier, the Moth family has a huge number of varieties, but the most common are the following species:
It is worth talking about each of them in more detail. Representatives that are classified as fruit trees:
Let's take a closer look:
Broad beans are an annual or biennial grass that is used in organic farming as green manure.
Broad beans are represented by the following representatives:
Clover is a herbaceous plant of the legume family. Clover stems can reach from 5 to 50 cm in height. Inflorescences can be different shades, but purple flowers are most common. It is very often used in folk medicine as an anti-inflammatory and expectorant.
Clover is also used as green fodder, and silage is made from it. In addition, essential oil and vitamin concentrates are made from clover leaves.
Alfalfa is another plant in the legume family. Alfalfa in wildlife can grow in fields, meadows and grassy slopes. It, like clover, is used as green fodder for livestock. The stems are pubescent or glabrous, strongly branched in the apical part. The stems can reach 80 cm in length. The inflorescences are purple or rich yellow.
Such plants include:
Lupine is a decorative herbaceous annual or perennial. Lupine can also be presented as a shrub or subshrub. Lupine is popular not only as a flower for decoration flower beds, but also as a raw material for the production of oils. Vegetable oil, obtained from lupine, its properties are similar to olive.
In addition, lupine is used as green fodder. The rhizome of lupine is powerful and can reach 1-2 meters in length. The inflorescences are represented by long tassels, which consist of many flowers. The color of the flowers can be different - pink, lilac, purple or red.
Silver acacia is a tree native to the southeast coast of Australia and Tasmania.
Silver acacia is also popularly called mimosa. The crown of the acacia tree is spreading; the tree trunk can reach a height of 10 - 12 meters.
Young stems of the tree are olive green. Acacia flowers are copper-yellow, round, fluffy, and have a pleasant aroma. Inflorescences are formed by a large number of flowers.
The list of legumes can be continued for a very long time. This is one of the most common families in the world. Legumes can grow in different climatic and natural conditions and in terms of distribution they can be second only to cereals.
Legumes, or Moths (lat. Fabaceae = Leguminosae = Papilonaceae)– family dicotyledonous plants, many of which have high nutritional value, and some are grown as ornamental plants. Herbaceous representatives of this family are able to bind and retain atmospheric nitrogen in the soil. The family contains about 24 and a half thousand species of annual and perennial plants, united in more than 900 genera. The family is represented by three subfamilies - Cesalpinium, Mimozov and Bobovy proper, or Motylkov. Representatives of subfamilies differ primarily in the structure of the flower.
Humanity has been eating some legumes since the Stone Age, and different countries the same legume product was treated differently. For example, in Greece peas were the food of the poor, and in France they were included in the exquisite menu of the king, in Ancient Egypt Lentil bread was an everyday dish, and in Ancient Rome this plant was considered medicinal.
In terms of the breadth of their range, legumes are second only to cereal plants. In countries with temperate, boreal, subtropical and tropical climates, leguminous plants make up a significant part of the flora. One of the indisputable advantages of legumes is the ability to adapt to a wide variety of natural conditions.
The leaves of legumes are alternate, usually complex - trifoliate, pinnate or palmate, with stipules, but there are also plants with simple leaves. Bisexual flowers are collected in axillary or terminal capitate, racemose, semi-umbellate or paniculate inflorescences. The upper large petal of leguminous plants is called a sail, the side petals are called oars, and the fused or stuck together lower petals are called a boat. The legume fruit is usually a dry, most often multi-seeded pod, or bean, with two valves that open when ripe. Sometimes a ripe bean breaks up into single-seeded parts, but there are plants with a single-seeded bean that, even in a ripe state, does not open on its own. Legume seeds usually have large cotyledons without endosperm.
- a genus of herbaceous plants of the legume family. Peas are one of the oldest members of the family, introduced into cultivation about 8,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent region, which consisted of Mesopotamia, the Levant, and prehistoric Syria and Palestine. From there, peas spread west to Europe and east to India. Peas were also cultivated in Ancient Greece, and in Ancient Rome - mention of it was found in the works of Theophrastus, Columella and Pliny. During the Middle Ages in Europe, peas became one of the main food resources of the poor because they could be stored dry for a long time. We cooked peas with lard. And the first recipe for a dish made from green peas was found in a book by Guillaume Tirel, written in the 13th century. Eating green peas became fashionable during Louis XIV, and the peak of popularity of this culture occurred in France in the 19th century. In 1906, a work was published in which more than two hundred varieties of peas were described, and in 1926 the Bonduelle society was formed, which organized the production of frozen green peas, which still holds the lead in the production of canned and frozen vegetables.
Peas appeared in America thanks to H. Columbus, who brought its seeds to Santo Domingo. It is known that American President Jefferson, famous for his love of agronomy, collected a collection of cultural samples, which served as the basis for breeding early ripening varieties peas In 1920, the American inventor Clarence Birdseye proposed a method of freezing green peas, which was quickly mastered by Europeans, and in the state of Minnesota they erected a monument to peas - a giant green statue.
Peas (lat. Pisum sativum)– a type species of pea, a climbing annual, widely cultivated as a forage and food plant. The feathery leaves of the pea end in branched tendrils with which the plant clings to the support. Peas have large stipules. The moth-like pea flowers are white, purple or pink colors. The seeds are slightly compressed spherical peas enclosed in a dense pod.
Varieties of seed peas are divided into three groups:
Pea seeds are a source of carbohydrates and vegetable protein, but their main nutritional value lies in the high concentration of mineral salts and trace elements - one pea includes almost the entire periodic table. In addition, the seeds contain fatty acids, natural sugars, dietary fiber and starch. The seeds of the crop contain B vitamins, as well as vitamins A, H, K, E, PP.
Despite the cold resistance of the crop, it is grown only in sunny areas. Soils for peas need to be moist, but not wet, neutral and light - preferably loamy or sandy loam. Peas grow best after pumpkin or nightshade crops. In the fall, it is advisable to fertilize the area for peas with humus or compost at the rate of half a bucket per m² or apply mineral fertilizers in the amount of 30-40 g of superphosphate and 20-30 g of potassium chloride per m², and in the spring, immediately before planting, you need to fertilize the soil with ammonium nitrate at the rate of 20 -30 g per unit area.
The best shelling pea varieties are considered to be early ripening Hezbana, Tires, Alpha, Corwin, Zamira, Misti, early ripening Gloriosa, Vinko, Asana, Abador, mid-early Ashton and Sherwood, mid-ripening Viola, Matrona, Nicholas, Twin and late-ripening variety Resap.
Of the sugar varieties, the very early peas Meteor, as well as Beagle, Little Marvel, early ripening varieties Medovik, Detsky Sugar, early ripening Calvedon, Onvard, Ambrosia, mid-early Sugar Oregon, Alderman, mid-ripening Zhegalova 112, Oscar and late-ripening Inexhaustible 195 have proven themselves well.
Among the brain varieties, early-ripening Vera peas, mid-ripening Debut and late-ripening Belladonna 136 are popular.
chickpeas, or lamb peas, or bladder, or nahat, or shish, or chickpeas (lat. Cicer arietinum)– a leguminous crop, especially popular in the Middle East. Chickpeas are the basis for many traditional Middle Eastern dishes, including falafel and hummus, as chickpeas have been cultivated in the region for seven and a half thousand years. Chickpeas came to the territory of Rome and Greece in the Bronze Age, and several varieties of chickpeas were already known then. In Rome, it was believed that these peas stimulated menstruation, promoted sperm production and lactation, and had a diuretic effect.
At the beginning of the 9th century, chickpeas were already grown everywhere in Europe, and in the 17th century they were considered more nutritious and less gas-forming than seed or vegetable peas. Today, chickpeas grow in 30 countries around the world, but they are grown commercially mainly in North Africa, Turkey, Pakistan, India, China and Mexico.
Chickpea is a herbaceous, self-pollinating annual with an erect, branched stem reaching a height of 20 to 70 cm and covered with glandular hair. Depending on the variety, branching may begin at the base of the stem or in its middle part. Root system chickpea has a taproot, the main root reaches a length of one hundred centimeters or more, but the bulk of the roots lie at a depth of 20 cm. Tubers containing nitrogen-fixing bacteria are formed at the ends of the roots. The leaves of chickpea are also pubescent, complex, odd-pinnate, consisting of 11-17 obovate or elliptical segments. The color of the leaves, depending on the variety, can be green, yellow-green, bluish-green, and sometimes green with purple tint. During flowering, small white, blue, yellow-green, purple or pink five-membered flowers open on one-two-flowered peduncles. The chickpea fruit is an oval, oblong-oval or rhombic bean with a length of 1.5 to 3.5 cm with a parchment inner layer. Seeds in the amount of one or two can be colored straw-yellow, greenish or bluish-violet. There is such a pattern: varieties with white flowers produce light seeds, and varieties with pink and purple flowers produce dark seeds. When ripe, the beans with seeds do not crack. Chickpea grains can have an angular shape reminiscent of a ram's head, they can be round or angular-rounded, similar to the head of an owl. Based on size, there are small-, medium- and large-seeded chickpea varieties.
Chickpea sprouts contain high-quality fats and proteins, a lot of calcium, potassium, magnesium, vitamins A and C, essential acids tryptophan and methionine. The grains contain protein, oil, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B6, PP, A and C.
IN agriculture Chickpeas are an intercrop that replaces fallow in dry conditions - they are used as a precursor for cereal crops. Chickpeas are the most frost-resistant, heat-resistant and drought-resistant of legumes. In addition, there is no need to add nitrogen fertilizers, since he himself is able to extract this element from the air and supply it to the soil. Chickpeas do not require high quality soils, but they will not grow well in weedy or heavy clay soils. Choose well-lit areas with loose, well-drained soil for chickpeas.
Edible lentils, or ordinary, or cultural (lat. Lens culinaris)– a herbaceous annual of the Lentil genus of the Legume family, one of the oldest crops, widely cultivated as a forage and food plant. This plant has been known for a long time: back in Old Testament It is mentioned that Esau exchanged his birthright for lentil stew. Lentils originated from southeast Asia, but they are grown in all countries with temperate and warm climates. In South America and Australia, lentils are the basis of many national dishes, in India and China it is considered the same national product as rice, and in Germany a traditional Christmas dish is prepared from it.
The root of lentils is thin, few-branched and pubescent. The erect, branched stem reaches a height of 15 to 75 cm. The alternate, short-petioled, pair-pinnate leaves end in a tendril. The stipules of lentils are entire, semi-lance-shaped. Thick peduncles are crowned with an axis. Small white, pink or purple flowers, collected in racemes, open in June-July. Hanging rhombic beans about 1 cm long and up to 8 mm wide contain from 1 to 3 flattened seeds with an almost sharp edge. The color of the seeds depends on the variety.
Lentil fruits contain a large amount of iron and vegetable protein, which is easily digestible by the human body, but the content of tryptophan and sulfur amino acids in lentils is not as high as in other legumes. And it contains less fat than peas. One serving of lentils contains 90% of your daily folic acid requirement. Lentils also contain soluble fiber, which improves digestion, potassium, calcium, iron and phosphorus, as well as manganese, copper, zinc, iodine, cobalt, molybdenum and boron, Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids, vitamins C, A, PP and group B, as well as isoflavones, which suppress breast cancer.
Lentils, unpretentious to growing conditions, nevertheless have their own preferences. For example, she prefers loose fertilized sandy loam and loamy soils with a neutral reaction. It grows in heavy soils, and even in acidified ones, but it will not give a good harvest in such soil. Add sand to clayey soil and lime to acidic soil, and then you can sow lentils. The best predecessors for lentils are corn, potatoes or winter crops.
There are six varieties of lentils:
- a genus of the Legume family, uniting almost one hundred species growing in warm and temperate climates. The most popular species of the genus is the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), whose homeland is Latin America. Varieties of common beans are distinguished by a variety of shapes and colors of leaves, flowers and fruits. Both seeds and bean pods of this ancient plant, which was cultivated in America by the Aztecs, are used for food. After Columbus's second voyage, beans came to Europe, where they were first grown as ornamental plant, and only from the end of the 17th century it began to be cultivated as a vegetable crop.
The height of beans can reach from 50 cm to 3 m. Its highly branched and pubescent stem can be straight or curly. The leaves of beans are trifoliate, pair-pinnate and long-petiolate. Flowers of white, violet and dark purple color, located on long stalks of 2-6 pieces, are collected in axillary racemes. Bean fruits are curved or straight, almost cylindrical or flattened hanging beans, 5 to 20 long and 1-1.5 cm wide. The color of the pod varies from pale yellow to dark purple. The beans contain from two to eight elliptical seeds of white or dark purple color, solid or speckled, spotted or mosaic.
Bean seeds contain proteins, carbohydrates, fatty oil, carotene, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper, essential amino acids, flavonoids, sterols, organic acids (malonic, citric and malic), as well as vitamins - ascorbic and pantothenic acids, thiamine and pyridoxine. Raw beans, especially those with red seeds, contain lectins that need to be neutralized by boiling for 30 minutes. Bean proteins are similar in composition to meat proteins. Soups, side dishes and canned food are prepared from beans. In some cases, beans are a dietary product. The bean leaves are used to prepare an extract that lowers blood sugar and increases diuresis. In folk medicine, rheumatism, hypertension and salt metabolism disorders are treated with infusions of bean leaves.
Beans are grown in light, well-drained soil fertilized with compost or humus. In composition it can be loam or sandy loam. It is better to locate the site on a southern or southwestern slope protected from the wind. Bean varieties are divided into three groups:
Early ripening beans are represented by the following varieties: Flat Long, Priusadnaya, Saksa 615, Caramel, Shakhinya, Zolotoy Nectar, Belozernaya 361. From mid-season varieties the most in demand are Motolskaya White, Pation, Moscow White, Yubileiny 287, Fiery Red, Pobeditel, Violet, and among late beans, the varieties most often preferred are Blue Hilda, Koroleva Nekar and Krasivy Yas. If you decide to grow green beans, then the best varieties of this variety are Indiana, Bergold, Deer King, Gina asparagus, Panther, Olga, Paloma Scuba and Pencil Pod.
Of the climbing bean varieties, the most commonly cultivated are Violetta, Gerda, Turkish, Golden Neck, Mavritanka, Lambada, Fatima, Pobeditel and Purple Queen, and among the bush varieties, the most famous are Butter King, Caramel, Indiana and Royal Purple Pod.
It is an annual herbaceous plant, a species of the Soybean genus of the Legume family. Soybeans are grown in Southern Europe, Asia, South and North America, South and Central Africa, Australia and the Pacific Islands. Soybean, like other legumes, is one of the oldest cultivated plants - the history of its cultivation goes back at least five thousand years: mention of soybean was found in Chinese literature dating back to the third or fourth millennium BC. However, there is also an opinion that soybean cultivated plant formed even earlier - 6-7 thousand years ago. Soybean was introduced into the culture in China, and then it spread to Korea and Japan. The plant entered Europe in 1740 through France, and in 1790 it was brought to England, although the plant began to be widely cultivated in Europe only in 1885. In 1898, many soybean varieties were brought to the United States from Asia and Europe, and in the early thirties of the last century, this crop was grown in America on an area of 1 million hectares. IN Russian Empire The first soybean crops were planted in 1877 on the territory of modern Ukraine - in the Taurida and Kherson provinces.
Currently, genetically modified soybeans are included in many products. The world leader in the production of GM soybeans is the American company Monsanto.
Food soybeans have earned popularity due to the following characteristics:
In addition to the fact that soybean is used as a healthy and inexpensive substitute for meat and milk, it is included in the feed for young farm animals.
The soybean root system is taprooted, the main root is thick but not very long, and the lateral roots can extend to the sides underground for two meters. Soybean stems are thin or thick, erect, creeping or climbing, well branched, from 15 to 200 cm or more in height. Side shoots extend from the stem at different angles, forming a spreading, semi-spreading or compact bush. Both the stems and shoots of soybeans are covered with yellow, white or brown hair. When ripe, the soybean stem becomes brown-yellow or red. Soybean leaves are alternate (except for the first two opposite ones), usually trifoliate, with small stipules. The shape of the leaves, depending on the variety, can be rhombic, broadly ovoid, oval, wedge-shaped with blunt or pointed tips. In most varieties, when the fruits ripen, the leaves fall off, which greatly facilitates harvesting. Small white or purple soybean flowers are collected in axillary racemes - sometimes short and few-flowered, and sometimes multi-flowered and long. Soybean fruits are straight, sword-shaped, slightly curved or crescent-shaped beans, convex or flat, light, brown or brown, with reddish pubescence, from 3 to 7 cm long and from 0.5 to 1.5 cm wide. The beans contain from 1 to 4 grains - oval, round, oval-elongated, flat, convex, large, medium or small, green, yellow, brown, black, with a gray, light or dark brown scar.
Soybeans are drought tolerant, but if you want good harvest, the soil in which it grows must be well moistened. It is better to grow soybeans in areas with fertile loamy or sandy loam soil, located in the open sun, but protected from the wind.
The soybean variety has six varieties:
On the basis of these subspecies, soybean selection was carried out, which resulted in many varieties and hybrids. Varieties of the Manchurian and Slavic subspecies and their hybrids are common in the territory of the former CIS. The most popular varieties in the south of Russia and Ukraine can be considered Amethyst, Altair, Ivanka, Vityaz 50, Bystritsa 2, Kievskaya 98, Chernovitskaya 8, Romantika, Terezinskaya 2, Deimos, Polesskaya 201, Ros, Veras, Yaselda, Volma, Pripyat and Oressa . In the conditions of the middle zone, the varieties Svetlaya, Kasatka, Okskaya, Lazurnaya, Harmony, Sonata, Lidiya, Yankan, Aktai, Nega 1, Mageva and others are most often grown.
Peanuts, cultivated or underground peanuts, or groundnut (lat. Arachis hypogaea) is an important agricultural plant grown on an industrial scale. Actually, it is wrong to call peanuts a nut; in fact, it is a legume grass native to South America. Peanuts were well known to the natives of Peru even before the Conquest. The Spaniards brought peanuts to Europe and the Philippines, and the Portuguese to India and Macau, as well as to Africa, from where they, along with black slaves, came to North America. Peanuts were first fed to pigs in the States, but during the Civil War they were consumed by soldiers of both armies. At that time, peanuts were the food of the poor, but they were not grown en masse as a food crop, and only in 1903, agrochemist George Washington Carver, while studying peanuts, invented more than 300 products from them, including cosmetics, drinks, dyes, medicines, and soap. , insect repellent and even printing ink. The scientist convinced farmers to alternate the cultivation of cotton and peanuts in the same field, and since then this crop has become one of the main crops in the southern states of America. In the territory of the former USSR, peanuts are grown in Central Asia, here and there in Transcaucasia and Ukraine, as well as in the southern regions of Russia.
Peanuts- an annual plant from 25 to 70 cm in height with a taproot branched root system, erect, inexpressively faceted, pubescent or bare stems, recumbent or upward-directed branches, branched shoots, alternate pubescent, pair-pinnate leaves from 3 to 11 cm long. The petioles of the leaves are grooved, and the leaves themselves consist of two pairs of pointed elliptical leaflets and large, elongated, entire, and also pointed stipules fused with them. Whitish or yellow-red peanut flowers, collected 4-7 pieces in few-flowered racemes, bloom in early June or early July. The fruits are indehiscent oval and swollen beans from 1.5 to 6 cm long with a cobweb pattern on the porous peel, which, when ripe, bend towards the ground, burrow into it and ripen there. Each bean contains from 1 to 5 oblong grains the size of beans, covered with dark red, grayish-yellow, cream or light pink skin. The fruits ripen in September or October.
Peanut seeds are saturated with fatty oil, which includes glycerides of stearic, palmitic, oleic, linoleic, lauric, behenic and other acids. In addition to oil, grains contain proteins, globulins, glutenins, starch, sugars, amino acids, vitamins E and B, magnesium, potassium, calcium, phosphorus and iron. Peanuts are used in the food industry for the preparation of confectionery and main courses, as well as the famous peanut butter. Well known and medicinal properties peanuts, which are the strongest antioxidant.
Peanuts are grown on light loams, sandy loams and sands. The site should be sunny and protected from the wind. There are four varieties of peanuts:
Common vetch, or peas (lat. Vicia)– a genus of flowering plants of the legume family, representatives of which grow in damp forests, steppes and shrubs, in flooded meadows, forest edges of temperate regions. Humanity grows some types of vetch for decorative purposes, but for the most part, plants of this genus are used for feed or as green manure.
The genus is represented by both annual and perennial plants with a climbing or erect stem, pinnate leaves ending in a tendril or straight bristles, and almost sessile flowers, solitary or collected in the axils of 2-3 pieces. Vetch fruits are cylindrical, flat-compressed multi-seeded or two-seeded beans. Vetch is a good honey plant.
Vetch is readily eaten by cattle, and this has a good effect on the quality of milk; however, if the plant is rotted, it can cause miscarriage in cows. Vetch hay is an excellent feed for adult livestock, but is harmful to nursing mares, calves, foals and lambs. Vetch straw is nutritious but difficult to digest, so it is added to other feed in small portions. Vetch chaff boiled in boiling water is an excellent feed for pigs.
For green fertilizer, vetch is grown as an intermediate crop, and as a green manure it is of interest as a precursor for seedlings of peppers, tomatoes and other garden plants. Sow vetch on cultivated and moistened nutritious soils weak acid reaction. Swamp, acidic, saline and dry sandy soils are not suitable for its cultivation. Most famous varieties sowing wikis are Nikolskaya, Lyudmila, Barnaulka, Lgovskaya 22 and Vera.
- a genus of plants in the legume family. The most famous cultivated species of this genus is red or meadow clover (Latin Trifolium pratense), which grows naturally in Europe, North Africa, Central and Western Asia.
Clover- sometimes a biennial, but more often a perennial herbaceous plant, reaching a height of 15 to 55 cm. Its stems are branched, ascending, the leaves are trifoliate, as indicated by the species name, with finely toothed broadly ovate lobes made of whole leaves with cilia along the edges. The globular inflorescences of red or white clover are often arranged in pairs and are usually covered by the upper leaves. The fruit of clover is an ovoid, single-seeded bean. The seeds are round or angular, yellow-red or purple. Clover blooms in June-September, and its fruits ripen in August-October.
Vitamin concentrates are obtained from clover leaves, and the essential oil of the plant is used for aromatic baths and the production of homeopathic preparations. Red clover is one of the most valuable crops, which is used as green fodder and from which silage and haylage are made. Clover straw is also used to feed livestock. In folk medicine, clover infusion and decoction were taken as a means for appetite, in the treatment of tuberculosis, cough, whooping cough, bronchial asthma, migraine, malaria, uterine bleeding and painful menstruation. Fresh clover juice was used to wash eyes sore from allergies, and a compress of crushed leaves was used to treat purulent ulcers and wounds.
In cultivation, clover is as unpretentious as in nature, but it is better to sow it in the sun in slightly acidic or neutral soil in which cereal crops previously grew. Before sowing, it is necessary to deeply plow the area and remove weeds from it.
If you are interested in the decorative qualities of the plant, then it is better to sow some variety of creeping clover (Trifolium repens), for example, Atropurpurea, Good Lac, Purpurasens, Swedish pink hybrid clover (Trifolium hybridum) or reddish clover (Trifolium rubens).
It is a herbaceous plant, the type species of the genus Lucerne. It grows wild in the Balkans and Asia Minor in the steppes, river valleys, dry meadows and grassy slopes, along forest edges, shrubs and pebbles, and is cultivated throughout the world as a forage plant.
The stems of alfalfa are pubescent or bare, tetrahedral, strongly branched in the upper part and reaching a height of 80 cm. They can be straight or recumbent. The rhizome of the plant is thick, powerful, and deep-lying. The leaves are petiolate, entire, oblong-ovate, with leaflets 1-2 long and 0.3-1 cm wide. On long axillary peduncles, a dense capitate multi-flowered raceme 2-3 cm long, consisting of blue-violet flowers, is formed. The fruit of alfalfa is a bean with a diameter of up to 5 mm.
Alfalfa, like clover and vetch, is a honey plant - immediately after pumping out, golden-yellow alfalfa honey thickens to the state of homemade cream. Alfalfa is a valuable agricultural crop, which is grown not only for feed, but also as green manure, and also as green manure for cotton, grain and vegetable crops. Some varieties of the plant are used for food and added to salads. Alfalfa has been cultivated as a forage plant for six or seven thousand years: from its native range it spread throughout the world with conquering armies. For example, the Persians brought alfalfa to Greece, the Saracens to Spain, and the Spaniards to South America and Mexico, and from there the plant came to Texas and California. Alfalfa is now grown all over the world.
Alfalfa grows on well-drained, highly fertile medium-loamy soils with a slightly acidic or neutral reaction. Do not sow it on acidic, swampy, saline, clay or rocky soils or where there are high groundwater. When growing on poor soils, it is necessary to apply fertilizers, and saline soils require leaching irrigation.
There are about 50 varieties of alfalfa, but the varieties usually grown are Laska, Rosinka, Lyuba, Severnaya hybrid, Bride of the North, Marusinskaya 425, Bibinur, Fraver, Madalina, Kamila and others.
In addition to alfalfa, vetch and clover, legumes, sainfoin, broad beans, canker grass and poultry legume are sometimes grown as forage plants, but these crops are less popular.
- a genus of plants in the legume family. The genus is represented by annuals and perennials herbaceous plants, as well as subshrubs and shrubs. The name of the plant is translated as “wolf”, while lupine is often called “wolf beans” among the people. In the wild, lupine can be found in the Mediterranean, Africa, and in the Western Hemisphere it grows in the territory from Patagonia to the Yukon and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. There are no more than 200 plant species in total, but white lupine was the first to be introduced into cultivation about 4,000 years ago - in Ancient Greece, Egypt and Rome it was used as food, fertilizer and a medicinal plant. And variable lupine has been cultivated since the time of the Incas.
Interest in lupine is caused by the high content of protein and oil in its seeds, which is close to olive oil in terms of indicators. Since ancient times, lupine seeds and its green mass have been used as livestock feed. The plant is also grown as green manure. You can also use lupine as a green fertilizer - this allows you to keep it clean. land plot and by growing organically clean vegetables and cereals, saving expensive fertilizers. Lupine is also in demand in pharmacology and medicine. But in summer cottages this crop is grown as an ornamental flowering plant.
The root system of lupine is taprooted, reaching a depth of 1-2 meters. On the roots there are nodules of bacteria that absorb nitrogen from the air and bind it. The herbaceous or woody stems of lupine, leafy to varying degrees depending on the species, reach a height of one and a half meters. Branches are erect, creeping or protruding. The palmately compound alternate leaves are connected to the stem by long petioles. Alternately, semi-whorled or whorled flowers form a multi-flowered apical raceme up to 1 m long. In zygomorphic lupine flowers, the velum is oval or rounded, straightened in the middle. The color of the flowers can be cream, yellow, pink, red, purple and different shades of purple. The fruits are leathery, slightly bent or linear beans with uneven surface cream, brown or black. Seeds of different types and varieties of lupine vary in size, shape and color. Their surface is fine-mesh or smooth.
Lupine is highly drought-resistant and prefers a temperate climate, although some species can tolerate even very low temperatures. This legume is sown in sandy or loamy soils of neutral, slightly alkaline or slightly acidic reaction. The following types of lupine are grown in culture:
- a herbaceous perennial from the genus Mimosa, which includes about 600 species. Mimosa comes from the tropical regions of South America, but as an ornamental plant it is grown all over the world, including in indoor cultivation.
Mimosa reaches a height of 30-70 cm, but sometimes it can grow up to one and a half meters. The stem of the plant is prickly, the leaves are up to 30 cm long, bipinnate, and hypersensitive: at sunset, in cloudy weather, or when touched, they fold and fall. Small purple spherical inflorescences with a diameter of up to 2 cm are formed on long peduncles. The mimosa fruit is a hooked, curved bean that opens when ripe with 2-8 seeds.
Those who decide to grow mimosa pudica in an apartment should know that due to its toxicity, the plant should be kept away from children and pets. In addition, mimosa cannot tolerate tobacco smoke and immediately sheds its leaves in protest.
Silver acacia, or whitened (lat. Acacia dealbata)- a species of trees of the Acacia genus of the Legume family, native to the south-eastern coast of Australia and the island of Tasmania. This species grows in southern Europe, in South Africa, in Madagascar, the Azores and the western United States. In everyday life, silver acacia is usually called mimosa, although these crops belong to different genera.
Silver acacia- a fast-growing tree with a spreading crown, growing up to 10-12 m, and its trunk can reach a diameter of 60-70 cm. The bark of the plant is gray-brown or brown, fissured, gum often protrudes from the cracks. The young branches of the plant are olive-green in color with a bluish bloom, like the leaves, for which this acacia received its specific name. Double pinnately dissected alternate leaves 10-20 cm long consist of 8-24 pairs of small elongated leaflets of the first order. Each leaf contains up to 50 pairs of oblong leaflets of the second order, the width of which does not exceed 1 cm. 20-30 fragrant, very small bluish-yellow flowers are collected in heads with a diameter of 4 to 8 mm, which form racemose inflorescences, which in turn make up panicles . The fruits of silver acacia are elongated-lanceolate, oblong, flat beans of light brown or violet-brown color, from 1.5 to 8 cm in length and up to 1 cm in width. In individual nests of the pods there are very hard black or dark brown elliptical seeds 3 in length -4 mm. The tree blooms from late January to mid-April, and bears fruit in late summer or early autumn. Silver acacia is an excellent honey plant.
Acacia gum contains tannins, flowers contain oil, which contains hydrocarbons, aldehydes, acid esters, acids and alcohol with the smell of ambergris, and flavonoids are found in pollen.
Silver acacia is grown only in warm climates, since it cannot withstand frosts below 10 degrees. It should be planted in the sun, protected from gusts of wind, in fertile soil neutral reaction. Acacia is drought-resistant, but for the first time after planting it needs constant watering.
All leguminous plants have bisymmetrical irregular flowers, collected in axillary or apical heads or racemes. The most characteristic form of flowers is the moth, for which legumes received their second name. Although some believe that legume flowers are more reminiscent of a boat with a sail.
The roots of many legumes have a characteristic feature: growths form on them, in which colonies of nitrogen-fixing bacteria live, absorbing this element from the air and converting it into a form more accessible to plants. This nitrogen serves as nutrition for the plant itself, accumulating in all its organs, and is released into the soil. That is why legumes are grown as green fertilizer and used as green manure.
The nutritional qualities of legume seeds can hardly be overestimated, since due to the protein they contain, they are an inexpensive meat substitute, which is especially important for vegetarians. In addition to protein, legumes contain vitamins and fiber, as well as other substances that are very valuable for the human body. Another advantage of legumes is that they do not accumulate nitrates and toxins, which is why legume feed is so highly valued.
A number of leguminous plants are medicinal, for example, cassia, Japanese sophora, licorice glabra and Ural.
All legumes are grown by sowing seeds in open ground, and the seedling method is used only for heat-loving plants, such as peanuts and beans. Pre-soak seed material accelerates the emergence of seedlings, but the seeds should be in water for no more than 12 hours, otherwise they may not germinate.
Almost all representatives of the Legume family prefer sandy or loamy soils with a neutral reaction, but a slight shift to the acidic or alkaline side is possible.
Most legumes are in symbiosis with nodule bacteria, which supply the soil with nitrogen. But the ability to absorb nitrogen from the air appears in plants only after flowering, so at the very beginning of growth it is necessary to add complete nitrogen to the soil. mineral fertilizer, including the nitrogen component. It is advisable to sow legumes after crops to which organic matter was added, and in order for nodules with bacteria to form on the roots of plants, it is necessary to use special bacterial fertilizers.
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