Fabales

Fabales is an order of flowering plants containing legumes, roses, and several other families. Its members vary widely in form, while legumes are distinguished by nitrogen-fixing partnerships and characteristic fruits called pods.

Connect

Fabaceae: A large flowering-plant family that includes beans, peas, and many trees and shrubs. This is the largest and best-known family in Fabales.
Rhizobium: A genus of soil bacteria that forms nitrogen-fixing symbioses with many legume plants. These bacteria commonly inhabit root nodules of Fabales' legume members.
Soybean: A legume crop cultivated for protein-rich seeds and oil. Soybean is a major agricultural species in the Fabaceae family.
Angiosperm: A seed plant that produces flowers and encloses its seeds within fruits. Fabales is one order within this vast flowering-plant lineage.
Polygalaceae: A flowering-plant family that includes milkworts and related herbs, shrubs, and trees. Its members represent a distinct family alongside legumes within the order.
Root nodule: A specialized swelling on a plant root that can house nitrogen-fixing microorganisms. Legumes in Fabales often form nodules to support bacterial nitrogen fixation.
Pea: A climbing or scrambling legume cultivated for its edible seeds and pods. Peas are familiar food plants from Fabales' largest family.
Rosales: An order of flowering plants that includes roses, elms, nettles, and figs. Despite the similar name, roses belong to Rosales, not Fabales.
Surianaceae: A small flowering-plant family of trees and shrubs, chiefly tropical or subtropical. This less familiar family is another lineage classified in Fabales.
Legume nodulation: The development of root nodules through signaling between legumes and compatible bacteria. It describes how many Fabaceae members establish nitrogen-fixing partnerships.