This family was earlier called Papilionoideae, a subfamily of family Leguminosae. It is distributed all over the world.
Vegetative Characters
- Trees, shrubs, herbs; root with root nodules
- Stem: erect or climber
- Leaves: alternate, pinnately compound or simple; leaf base, pulvinate; stipulate; venation reticulate.
- 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
Economic importance
- Many plants belonging to the family are sources of pulses (gram, arhar,sem, moong, soyabean; edible oil (soyabean, groundnut); dye (Indigofera);
- fibres (sunhemp); fodder (Sesbania, Trifolium), ornamentals (lupin, sweet pea); medicine (muliathi).
Learn more: 10 Examples of Fabaceae plants
