Fabaceae or Leguminosae
The well known ‘bean family’; a very large one with many species of agricultural importance but also cultivated as ornamentals. The gallery can only give a small glimpse of the fruits/seeds diversity. They are important characters for species identification; after the seeds characters we can establish sometimes the correct genus.
The fruits in most cases are legumes, dehiscent or indehiscent. On occasions we refer to the indehiscent fruits as being the ‘seeds’ (ex. Desmodium, Hedysarum) because for the purpose of sowing/seeds exchanges/shops, the seeds may not be extracted from the fruits.
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