Plants of the moth family. Moth plants. Characteristics, variety. General characteristics of the family

17.07.2020

The legume family has another name - Moth. This family belongs to the class Dicotyledons. It includes a huge number of plants.

Among the common features of all plants of the legume family, the following should be noted. The flowers of the representatives of the family are irregular. They have five petals, differing in shape and size, and ten stamens. Legumes have a characteristic structure. Their name corresponds to the name of the family - bean. To common features the fact that the ovary is always monomerous, not divided into shares, also applies. The fruit is always bicuspid, in most cases polyspermic. One-seeded is found only in plants of the genus Clover. When the seeds ripen, the fruit bursts along the seam. Seeds are attached directly to the valves.
The legume family is very large. It includes more than two hundred genera and more than six thousand species. Legumes grow all over the world, in all latitudes and climatic conditions. They are found in alpine meadows and the Far North, as well as in deserts and tropical forests.
In the family, herbaceous forms and trees with shrubs are almost equally represented.
The large family is divided into three subfamilies: Legumes proper, which include the largest number of representatives, Mimosa and Caesalpinia, which grow exclusively in warm climates.
Representatives of the legume subfamily have a two-symmetrical flower. It consists of a persistent calyx with five sepals, a corolla of five petals, ten stamens and a pistil. The petals of the opened flower resemble a moth with open wings. From this came the name moth. Also, a flower is often compared with a boat. The largest petal is called a sail, the side small symmetrical petals are called oars, and the lower fused petals are called a boat. It is in the boat that the pistil and ten stamens are located, of which nine are fused, and one is free (in most species of the subfamily). The fused stamens form a plate that encircles the pistil.
The leaf blade of legumes is usually complex. They can be pinnate, palmate with a large number of leaflets. Often these plants have stipules, which can reach considerable sizes, in some cases larger than the leaves themselves. Mustaches are common elements. They develop on top of compound leaves. Antennae are both simple and branching.

The legume subfamily includes many genera of commonly known plants: Beans, Lupins, Lentils, Soybeans, Vika and many others.

Significantly fewer genera belong to the subfamily Caesalpiniaceae. This group is characterized by less irregular flowers. They have all ten stamens not fused and lower petals that are not fused, which in plants of the legume subfamily form a boat. The fruits of the Caesalpinias open one at a time or do not open at all. This subfamily includes genera, Caesalpinia, Tamarind, Carob and some others.

Even fewer genera are included in the Mimozov subfamily. They only grow in warm climates. The flowers are small, almost regular, collected in dense inflorescences of the head, and sometimes in the brush. The number of sepals and petals varies from four to six. The number of stamens ranges from four to an indefinite number. Mimosa leaves are usually bipinnate and have small lobes. The fruits are a standard bean with no special differences. The most prominent representatives of mimosa are bashful mimosa, real acacia and some others.

The legume family is an extensive group that includes a variety of representatives. It also contains medicinal plants. These include Galega officinalis, Ulcer healing, Red clover and many others.

If we consider the economic importance of legumes, it is worth noting that they are second only to cereals. Since ancient times, the fruits of legumes have been used for food and now they are the most important food product. They cultivate beans, peas, beans, soybeans and peanuts, mung beans. There are tropical legumes of the genus Pachyzirus that form tubers, which are also eaten.
In addition to food, there are fodder legumes, such as clover, alfalfa, lupine, vetch.
Legumes also provide valuable timber. First of all, these are trees belonging to the genera Acacia and Prosopis. Valuable wood is provided by aformosia golden, dalbergia, pterocarpus and many other tropical trees belonging to the legume family.

Family representatives Moth - usually annual or perennial herbaceous plants, but there are also shrubs and trees. For example, peas, soybeans, and beans are annuals, while lupins and clover are perennials.

All Motylkovs have the following flower structure. The calyx consists of 5 fused sepals, the corolla consists of 5 petals. The corolla looks like a sitting moth: a large upper petal is called a “sail”, two side petals are called “wings”, and two lower fused ones are called a “boat”. There are only 10 stamens. In some plants, the stamens are fused into a tube, in others they are free. Flowers are pollinated by bees and bumblebees, but there are plants with self-pollinating flowers, such as those of peas. The fruit is a bean, which usually opens in two wings.

On the roots of plants there are nodules, in which special bacteria develop. Bacteria, unlike plants, can assimilate and accumulate atmospheric nitrogen. The nitrogen taken up by the bacteria can be used by the plants themselves.Since all organs of moth plants are rich in nitrogen substances, some of them (for example, clover, lupine and alfalfa) are used as green manure. Grown plants are plowed into the soil, where they turn into humus containing a large amount of nitrogen salts.

More than 17,000 species of moths are known. They are widely distributed throughout the globe and are important in agriculture. Many of them are grown as food, fodder and medicinal plants.

Peanut (peanut) from South America. A lot of oil accumulates in peanut seeds (40-60%). The plant is grown in India, Africa and China. Interestingly, its flowers bloom only one day, they are self-pollinated. The fertilized ovary bends towards the ground, lengthens and grows into the ground. There, a special fungus settles on it, after which the growth of the ovary stops. Seeds ripen at a depth of 8-10 cm, where they are well protected from the action of dry hot air.

clover red - an excellent fodder and honey plant containing many proteins, vitamins and minerals. In terms of nutritional qualities, clover hay is superior to cereals. Clover is pollinated only by bumblebees, since bees do not have a proboscis long enough for this. Clover also significantly enriches the soil with nitrogen and improves its structure. AT folk medicine clover grass is used as a remedy for colds.

Mouse peas - perennial plant with clinging stems. Flowers blue-violet. The plant in the meadows is well eaten by livestock, but in the fields it is a weed, because it clings to cereals and weakens their growth.

Soya of all cultivated butterflies, it ranks first in the world in terms of crop area. In our country, it is grown in the Krasnodar and Primorsky Territories. Soybean seeds contain about 33% protein and 18% oil. Soybean oil, cheese, sweets are made from them. The special value of soybean seeds is that they can be used to obtain products similar to dairy (soy tofu), as well as flour, from which bread is baked for diabetics.

Licorice (liquorice) - a medicinal plant, the root of which is used as an expectorant for coughing. Licorice is also used as a delicacy, which was invented back in the 18th century. AT 1760 pharmacist George Dunhill added sugar to licorice root extract. Licorice can be found in Chinese herbals and Egyptian papyri. She was even found in the tomb of Tutankhamun. The ancient Greeks called this plant "sweet root".

Food lentils - an annual plant up to 40 cm high. It has been grown as a food plant since ancient times. Some varieties of lentils produce beans 3 cm long, but mostly no more than 1.5 cm. The beans are harvested by hand. Lentils are grown in Asian countries, Southern Europe and North Africa.

Plants of the family legumes are in order legumes(which is often referred to as "legumes", causing confusion). Legumes are a large community of dicotyledonous plants that have a bean fruit. Many types of legumes have long been used by humans for their taste and nutritional properties: peas, chickpeas, beans, mung beans, peanuts, lentils and many others. The old "friendship" of man with beans is reflected in fairy tales - for example, in the English fairy tale "Jack and the Beanstalk" about a boy who climbed a stalk of magic beans to the sky. And the painting by the Flemish artist Jacob Jordaens depicts the folk custom of electing a “bean king” - and the bean baked in a pie that day symbolized nothing less than the Star of Bethlehem!

Legumes or butterflies - family of plants in the order legumes. These plants got their funny name due to the fact that the corolla of the flower resembles a butterfly, a moth. Life forms of legumes varied. These can be trees (acacia, bean, robinia, chestnutspermum, wisteria), shrubs (sophora, yellow acacia, blizzard, broom), herbs (clover, goat's rue, gorse, licorice, rank, bird's-foot) and creepers (canavalia).

Typical representatives of legumes in central Russia are vetch, rank, sweet clover, clover, alfalfa. Plants of the genus Astragalus (herbs, small shrubs) grow in the mountains of Transcaucasia, in Central Asia. They have unpaired pinnate leaves, a brush with purple, red-pink or yellow flowers. Often found in our region is a yellow acacia, whose homeland is Altai. Her salient feature- crackling during opening of mature beans. In the southern regions, white acacia grows (whose homeland is North America), during the days of its flowering, a strong delicate aroma spreads around. An unusual representative of legumes is camel thorn - one of the few plants that endure life in the desert. Camel thorn extracts moisture from deep layers of the soil, thanks to its long root, penetrating 15–20 meters.

General features and diversity of plants of the moth family

1. Most plants are pollinated by insects, but self-pollination is also found - in peas, astragalus, lentils, and some types of lupine.

2. How is pollination going? The nectar is located at the base of the pistil, the insect, getting there, stains the abdomen with pollen from the anthers. Further, all this wealth is transferred by insects to the pistils of other plants.

3. If nine stamens out of ten grow together in peas, then in lupine - all ten.

4. Butterfly leaves with stipules are almost always compound - at the same time they can be either paired-pinnate (peas, sweet peas), or unpaired-pinnate, like in Astragalus. Clover has trifoliate leaves, while lupine has palmate leaves.

A well-known, characteristic representative of the moth family is peas. Let's take a look at its features.

1. An annual plant with a taproot that produces bacterial nodules. It is thanks to the symbiosis with bacteria that peas are able to saturate the soil with nitrogen - which means that it is a good precursor for planting other plants.

2. It is unpretentious and frost-resistant, withstands frosts down to -5 degrees. At the same time, it is demanding on moisture.

3. Highly nutritious, pea fruits contain a lot of protein, beta-carotene, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, potassium.

4. The leaf of a pea is paired-pinnate, a long tendril grows from its top, with which the plant grabs any supports, so the stem itself is weak and is not able to stay upright. At the base of the leaf are large, expressive green stipules.

5. Flower formula Ch(5) L1.2.(2) T(9).1 P1. Parentheses are used to indicate fused parts of the flower. The position of the five petals is as follows: the upper large petal, sticking out separately, is a sail, in the center there are two fused petals - a boat, and finally two lateral, medium-sized ones - oars.

6. There are ten stamens in a pea flower, and nine of them are fused with stamen filaments, one is free.

7. The inflorescence of peas is a one-flowered or two-flowered brush (as, for example, in sweet clover or lupine). But the inflorescences of legumes can be completely different in structure, most often, in addition to the brush, there is a head and panicle.

8. Pea fruit is a bean in which seeds (peas) are hidden that do not have endosperm.

Peas, soybeans, sweet peas, lentils, peanuts, soybeans... Everyone knows the names of these plants. In our article, we will consider the structural features of the vegetative organs and the formula of the legume flower.

General characteristics of the family

Leguminous or moth plants belong to the dicotyledonous class. Systematics count them in nature more than 20 thousand species. Most of them are valuable food and fodder crops. Of particular importance is the ability of some species to fix atmospheric nitrogen. Legumes are represented by all life forms: herbs, shrubs and trees. As a rule, with on the stem. The legume flower is a systematic feature.

Conventions

In botany, there is such a thing as a flower formula. It represents the symbols of the parts of this generative organ. The numbers in this row indicate the quantitative indicators of the elements of the generative organ.

They are decoded as follows:

H - cup. It is a collection of sepals surrounding the receptacle.
B - whisk. These are all flower petals.
Oh - perianth. It includes a bowl and a whisk.
T is the number of stamens.
P is the number of pistils.

Legume flower formula

Now let's decipher this combination of symbols using a specific example. The flower formula of moth or leguminous plants is as follows: P5 L1 + 2 + (2) T (9 + 1) P1. Such a structure visually resembles a boat or a butterfly. This determines the name moth.

So, the perianth of the representatives of this family consists of five sepals and petals. The structure of the latter is differentiated. The topmost petal has big sizes compared to the rest. They call it "sail". On both sides there are side lobes - "oars". The remaining pair fuses along the bottom edge. This is how the "boat" is formed. Legumes have one pistil. There may be ten stamens in one case, in another, nine of them grow together, and one remains free. The petals are sometimes also called the winged butterfly.

flower type

The bean flower formula also carries additional information. Such structures are bisexual. This means that the flowers have a pistil and stamens. They can be single - large with bright and wide petals.

Another one of characteristic features is symmetry. According to this feature, legume flowers are irregular or zygomorphic. This means that a single vertical plane can be drawn through them.

In a number of cases, the formation of inflorescences occurs in representatives of this family. Sometimes the flower formula of which was given above forms inflorescences. It can be a brush, head or panicle.

Pollination and seed formation

The formula of the legume flower indicates some of its differences in different species of the family. These features also determine the method of pollination. For example, in a clover, each petal is twisted into a long tube. Therefore, only bumblebees with a special proboscis can pollinate it. Legumes also attract bees and butterflies. Peas, lupins, astragalus, wikis self-pollinate.

A feature of legume seeds is the absence of endosperm - a reserve nutrient. These are dicot plants. Therefore, their embryo consists of two cotyledons, a rudimentary stalk, a root and a bud, which contains the rudiments of the first leaves. Outside there is a protective shell. The cotyledons are turned to each other with flat sides. They are connected in one of the parts. In this place, the rudimentary organs are located.

The stock of substances is enclosed directly in the cotyledons. Scientists have proven that lupine can be grown even from seeds that have lain in permafrost for a long time. And for beans, underground germination is characteristic. In a biological sense, this is very beneficial, because it provides protection from animals, temperature changes.

Fruits and seeds

The fruit of this family is called a bean. It develops from the carpel. The bean is a dry multi-seeded. After maturation, it opens along the seam between the two wings. They have seeds on them. Unlike the pod, there is no vertical partition inside the bean.

Bean seeds have been eaten for a long time. Peas and beans are high in protein, while soy and peanuts are high in vegetable oils. Clover and alfalfa are indispensable because of their great nutritional value. These plants are also of great importance as honey plants. White and yellow caragana, as well as mimosa, are well-known ornamental species.

Meaning

Bean shoots are a valuable green manure. They are plowed and left on the surface of the soil, which contributes to its enrichment with organic matter and improves the structure. In the pharmaceutical industry, licorice, sweet clover, white locust are used as raw materials. Among the woods, sandalwood is the most valuable.

Nodule bacteria settle only on the roots of legumes. This is a special species that is able to absorb atmospheric nitrogen. What is the use of such organisms? Nitrogen is an essential element for stem and leaf formation. And in the air this substance is enough - up to 78%. But plants cannot absorb atmospheric nitrogen. Nodule bacteria convert it into a form that dissolves in water and can be absorbed from the soil by the roots. The existence of these organisms is mutually beneficial: bacteria provide plants with nitrogen, and in return receive mineral nutrients.

So, the formula of a bean flower looks like P5 L1 + 2 + (2) T (9 + 1) P1. Such a structure consists of five carpels and the same number of petals. The latter differ in size and shape. As a result, the legume flower has an irregular shape and is zygomorphic. This means that only one axis of symmetry can be drawn through it. This type of symmetry is called zygomorphic. Visually, the flower of leguminous plants resembles a boat with oars and a sail or a butterfly. This determines the second name of this family - moths. All legume flowers are bisexual. They have one pistil. And the number of stamens is ten. In some of them, nine of them grow together, and one remains free.

Flowers in plants of the legume family are solitary or collected in an inflorescence - a brush or a head. The flower looks like a boat or a butterfly, so the second name of the family is Moth. The corolla of a bean flower consists of 5 petals: the upper large one is the “flag” or “sail”, the two side ones are “wings” or “oars”, and the two inner ones grow together along the lower edge and form a “boat”. The "boat" contains 10 stamens and 1 pestle. In some legumes (peas, alfalfa), the threads of 9 stamens grow together, and one remains free. The flower formula of most legumes is: H 5 L 1 + 2 + (2) T (9) + 1 P 1. The flowers are pollinated by insects, mostly bees. In clover, the petals grow together into a long tube, and the proboscis of the bees does not reach the nectar. Therefore, clover is pollinated by bumblebees with a longer proboscis. In peas, lupine, self-pollination occurs.

root system

The root system of legumes is pivotal. Most of them have nodules on the roots - the result of the vital activity of nodule bacteria that penetrate the root from the soil. Nodule bacteria are able to use nitrogen from the air and form nitrogen-containing minerals that plants feed on. Nitrogen is part of proteins, so legumes are rich in proteins. After the roots of leguminous plants die off, the soil is enriched with nitrogen and becomes more fertile.

Among the plants of the legume family, all life forms are found: trees ( locust, or white acacia, mimosa), shrubs ( caragana, or yellow acacia), perennial grasses ( clover, lupine), as well as curly forms ( peas, Vika).

Representatives of legumes have developed adaptations to a wide variety of natural conditions. Therefore, they are found almost everywhere. Legumes are habitat-forming species in many communities. Thus, some species of acacia dominate the African and Australian savannahs, and woody forms are part of tropical and sub-tropical rainforests.

Eating

Since ancient times, in many agricultural regions of the world, they have been growing peas, beans, lentils, beans, rich in proteins and carbohydrates. A centuries-old culture in East Asia and America is soy, the seeds of which contain 45% protein and 24% oil. Milk, cheese, flour, sweets are made from soybeans. In our country, soybeans are grown on Far East and in the Krasnodar Territory. The legumes are peanut, or peanut. The seeds of its beans contain up to 50% superior oil.

Licorice is used in food production, for example, in the manufacture of halva.

The medicine

Legumes are one of the best honey plants. Many of them and medicinal plants. For example, don-nick white has long been used for increased excitability and insomnia. thermopsis and licorice are part of cough mixtures. material from the site

Licorice smooth has long been used in folk medicine. Theophrastus recommended licorice for respiratory problems and asthma. In China, it is valued as highly as ginseng root. In Tibetan medicine, licorice root is part of many medicines.

Agriculture

Important forage legumes and for Agriculture — clover, vetch, rank, alfalfa, as they produce high-quality hay. Some legumes, for example lupine, used as a green fertilizer: in the summer it is mowed and plowed into the soil.