Seed to Feed Me: WHAT IS A LEGUME?

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The term legume is often used in cooking and gardening terms, and most people would recognise that peas and beans are legumes. But what are they exactly, and how many types of legumes are out there?

Legume is used to describe a plant from the family Leguminosae or its fruit. These plants bear simple, dry fruit contained within a pod which develops from a simple carpel and usually opens along a seam on two sides.

Many legumes have a special ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen into the soil through special nodules on their root systems. Commercial farming land and vegetable plots are often planted out with these crops to take advantage of this property and return fertility back to the soil. The whole plant is chopped up and returned to the soil, including roots, stems and seeds. Because of the fertility that they provide, legumes are often used for crop rotation and are sometimes referred to as green manure.

The most commonly recognised legumes include alfalfa, beans, clover, peas, lentils, lupins, peanuts and soybeans. Legume species grown for their flowers include lupins, lathyrus and sweet peas.

A full list of legumes includes: