Bean – the name of family of plants of a class bichromatic. All representatives of bean have flowers of irregular shape, and their fruits possess the specific device which botanists call a bean. The family of bean is widespread worldwide, and everywhere has representatives of the class.
Distinctive features of family of bean
The family of bean has two forms: grassy and ligneous. Forms, in turn, are divided into three subfamilies in structure of a flower: mimozovy, senna family and bean.
Senna family and mimozovy plants – live only in warm climate, and bean grow on all globe. Widely known forage and vegetable crops concern them: peas, beans, haricot, soy, chick-pea, peanut, lucerne and clover.
All representatives of bean cultures have the distinctive structure of a fruit – a pod. When maturing the pod reveals on one or two seams. Beans happen the most varied in form and to the size. Leaves at most of representatives bean difficult: plumose or web-footed, from one to twenty couples are located on couples. Feature of roots of bean plants is existence of tubers which are colonies of the nitrogen-fixing bacteria getting from the earth into roots and causing growth of a root system.
Nutrition value of bean cultures
The role of bean plants in human life is very big. Since ancient times the food representatives of bean make an integral part of a diet of all people. The nutrition value of bean plants, is caused by their various structure: proteins, a large amount of starch, some plant species have vegetable oil in fruits. Peas contain up to 28% of protein, lentil contains 32%, soy to 40% of lump. Such indicators do bean cultures by cheap substitute of meat food. From soy and peanut in the industrial way receive vegetable oil. Bean plants are a source of vitamins of group B: B1, B2, B6 which positively influence work of heart. Cellulose as a part of products well influences work of intestines and causes saturation of an organism. Very important advantage of bean plants – they do not accumulate in themselves nitrates and toxic substances.
Role of bean plants
Forage, medicinal, commercial, melliferous, decorative crops, also play very important role in mankind life. From forage crops, on the volume of the occupied space, a clover - on the first place, then different types of a lucerne and a camel prickle. Also herbs are valuable: a cassia (it is used as depletive), a licorice root (is raw materials for the medical industry). Some tropical types are a source of the most valuable wood of red and dark brown color. Many types of bean cultures distinguish gum which is applied in the paint and varnish and textile industry.