Legumes are members of the Fabaceae family and are a rich source of protein and nutrients. They contain nitrogen-fixing root nodules that enrich the soil. Some common edible legumes include beans, peas, lentils, soybeans, peanuts. Legumes have been cultivated for thousands of years by ancient civilizations and were an important crop for the Romans and Greeks. They are used widely around the world in soups, stews, and other dishes.

1. Reporter: Dades, Dyan D.
A requirement of Bio 48: Economic Botany
Instructor: Ma’am Hannah P. Lumista
LEGUMES AND NUTS
Part 1: Legumes

2. What are legumes?
Legumes
are members of the family Fabaceae/Leguminosae which
includes all types of beans and various trees and ornamentals.
contain more protein material than any other vegetable product

3. Characteristics of Legumes
5-petal flower is irregular with bilateral
symmetry
Fruits is a pod/legume with 1 row of seeds
Seeds contain food-storing cotylendons
 rich in oil and protein
High protein content of legume is correlated with the
presence of root nodules which contain nitrogen-fixing bacteria
Example is the species of Rhizobium

4. sub-families of family Fabaceae
Caesalpinioideae
• The flowers are zygomorphic, not perfectly symmetrical, but
are very variable, for example, closely resembling Faboideae
flowers in Cercis, while symmetrical with five equal petals in
Bauhinia. Most of the Caesalpiniodieae are shrubs and trees.
Mimosoideae
• The petals are small and the stamens are the showiest part of
the flower. Among the Mimosoideae are the Acacia and
Mesquite.
Faboideae or Papilionoideae
• One petal is large and has a crease in it; the two adjacent
petals are on the sides, and the two bottom petals are joined
together at the bottom, forming a boat-like structure.

5. History of Legumes
• Records from the oldest civilizations of Egypt and eastern Asia
demonstrate the ancient use of various Old World beans, peas,
vetches soybeans, and alfalfa.
• One of the early Greek botanists, Theophrastus, in summarizing much
that had been learned up to his time, which was the third century
before Christ, wrote of leguminous plants "reinvigorating" the soil and
stated that beans were not a burdensome crop to the ground but
even seemed to manure it.
• The Romans laid emphasis on the use of leguminous plants for green
manuring; they also introduced the systematic use of crop rotations, a
practice that was forgotten for a time during the early Middle Ages.

6. Some Common Edible
Legumes

7. Adzuki beans
• Scientific Name: Vigna angalaris
• Popular in Japan and often used
in dessert and confections
•

8. Anasazi beans
• Scientific Name: Phaseolus
vulgaris
• The Dramatic red and white
heirloom bean of the American
southwest

9. Black-eyed Peas
• Scientific Name: Vigna
unguiculata
• Popular favorite in the South- a
must on New Year’s for good
luck

10. Black turtle beans
• Scientific Name: Phaseolus
vulgaris
• Small jet-black bean, the
ingredient in black bean soups
popular in Latin American cuisine

11. Chick-peas
• Scientific Name: Cicer arietinum
• Also known as garbanzo and
ceci; common in Middle Eastern
and Mediterranean foods

12. Kidney beans
• Scientific Name: Phaseolus
vulgaris
• Best known in chili; most-
consumed legume in United
States

13. Lentils
• Scientific Name: Lens culinaris
• Used in soups and stews; most
important legume in India

14. Lima beans
• Scientific Name: Phaseolus
lunatus
• A New World crop native to
South America and named after
Peruvian capital

15. Mung beans
• Scientific Name Vigna radiata
• Widely cultivated in India and
China; best known as bean
sprouts in Oriental cooking

16. Navy beans
• Scientific Name Phaseolus
vulgaris
• Smallest white bean; celebrated
in Boston baked beans

17. Pinto beans
• Scientific Name Phaseolus
vulgaris
• Mottled pink and brown beans;
used in refried beans and other
Tex-Mex dishes

18. Soybean
• Glycine max
• is a small, bushy, erect or
prostrate annual resembling the
cowpea.
• native of Southeastern Asia,
where over 1000 varieties are
grown, Manchuria leading in
commercial production,
followed by Korea, Japan, and
the Dutch East Indies.

19. Peanut
• Arachis hypogea
• is a true legume rather than a
nut, for the shuck is merely a
shell-like pod. The plant is a
bushy or creeping annual with
the peculiar habit of ripening
itsfruit underground. The peanut
is a native of Brazil but was early
carried to the Old W orId tropics
by the Portuguese explorers.