Legume

Legumes (/ˈlɛɡjuːm, ləˈɡjuːm/) are plants in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seeds of such plants. When used as a dry grain for human consumption, the seeds are also called pulses. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, but also as livestock forage and silage, and as soil-enhancing green manure. Well-known legumes include beans, chickpeas, peanuts, lentils, lupins, mesquite, carob, tamarind, alfalfa, and clover. Legumes produce a botanically unique type of fruit – a simple dry fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually dehisces (opens along a seam) on two sides.

Most legumes have symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria in structures called root nodules. Some of the fixed nitrogen becomes available to later crops, so legumes play a key role in crop rotation.