The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, are a large and agriculturally important family of flowering plants. It includes trees, shrubs, and perennial or annual herbaceous plants, which are easily recognized by their fruit (legume) and their compound, stipulate leaves. The family is widely distributed, and is the third-largest land plant family in number of species, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with about 765 genera and nearly 20,000 known species.
The Faboideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. An acceptable alternative name for the subfamily is Papilionoideae, or Papilionaceae when this group of plants is treated as a family.
Tubers are a type of enlarged structure used as storage organs for nutrients in some plants, usually stems, but some definitions refer to roots. Tubers help plants perennate, provide energy and nutrients, and are a means of asexual reproduction.
Nymphaea is a genus of hardy and tender aquatic plants in the family Nymphaeaceae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution. Many species are cultivated as ornamental plants, and many cultivars have been bred. Some taxa occur as introduced species where they are not native, and some are weeds. Plants of the genus are known commonly as water lilies, or waterlilies in the United Kingdom. The genus name is from the Greek νυμφαία, nymphaia and the Latin nymphaea, which mean "water lily" and were inspired by the nymphs of Greek and Latin mythology.
The winged bean, also known as cigarillas, goa bean, four-angled bean, four-cornered bean, manila bean, princess bean, star bean, kamrangi bean, pea, dragon bean, is a tropical herbaceous legume plant.
Apios americana, sometimes called the American groundnut, potato bean, hopniss, Indian potato, hodoimo, America-hodoimo, cinnamon vine, or groundnut is a perennial vine that bears edible beans and large edible tubers.
Pediomelum esculentum, synonym Psoralea esculenta, common name prairie turnip or timpsula, is an herbaceous perennial plant native to prairies and dry woodlands of central North America, which bears a starchy tuberous root edible as a root vegetable. English names for the plant include tipsin, teepsenee, breadroot, breadroot scurf pea, large Indian breadroot, prairie potato and pomme blanche. The prairie turnip was a staple food of the Plains Indians.
Indian bread root is a common name for several plants with edible roots and may refer to:
Pediomelum hypogaeum is a perennial herb also known as the little Indian breadroot or subterranean Indian breadroot. It is found on the black soil prairies in Texas.
Pediomelum cuspidatum is a perennial herb also known as the buffalo pea, largebract Indian breadroot and the tall-bread scurf-pea. It is found on the black soil prairies in Texas. It has an inflorescence on stems 18-40 centimeters long arising from a subterranean stem and deep carrot-shaped root that is 4–15 cm long. The long petioled leaves are palmately divided into 5 linear-elliptic leaflets that are 2-4 centimeters long. The flowers, borne in condensed spikes from the leaves, are light blue and pea-like.
Pediomelum californicum is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common name California Indian breadroot. It is endemic to California, where it grows in the chaparral and woodlands of the coastal mountain ranges. It is a perennial herb with no stem or a short stem that is mostly underground, leaving the plant at ground level. The compound leaves are each made up of five to seven oval leaflets which may be nearly 3 centimetres long. The inflorescence is a raceme of several blue or purple pealike flowers each about one centimetre long. The fruit is a hairy oval beak-tipped legume pod up to one centimetre long containing smooth kidney-shaped seeds.
Pediomelum castoreum is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names beaver Indian breadroot and beaver dam breadroot. It is native to the deserts around the intersection of California, Nevada, and Arizona, where it grows in local habitat including disturbed areas. It is a perennial herb with no stem or a short stem that is mostly underground, leaving the plant at ground level. The compound leaves are each made up of five or six oval leaflets which may be over 4 centimeters long. The leaf is borne on a long petiole. The inflorescence is a raceme of several blue or purple pealike flowers each roughly a centimeter long. The fruit is a hairy oval legume pod tipped with a long, curved beak. It contains ridged gray seeds each about 6 millimeters long.
The tribe Psoraleeae is one of the subdivisions of the plant family Fabaceae. Recent phylogenetics has this tribe nested within tribe Phaseoleae.
Pachyrhizus ahipa, also called the ahipa or Andean yam bean, is a tuberous root-producing legume, which is mainly distributed in the Andean region.
Psoralidium tenuiflorum, the slimflower scurfpea, is a perennial in the pea family. It is about 2–3 feet (0.6–0.9 m) tall and has a lot of leaves on top. Its leaves can reach a length of 3 inches (80 mm). This flower can be found mainly in the central and southwestern U.S.
Pediomelum subacaule is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names Nashville breadroot and whiterim scurfpea. It is native to a small area of Eastern North America, only being found in limestone cedar glades of the Interior Low Plateau and Ridge and Valley ecoregions of Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee.
A staple food, food staple, or simply staple, is a food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard diet for an individual or a population group, supplying a large fraction of energy needs and generally forming a significant proportion of the intake of other nutrients as well. For humans, a staple food of a specific society may be eaten as often as every day or every meal, and most people live on a diet based on just a small variety of food staples. Specific staples vary from place to place, but typically are inexpensive or readily available foods that supply one or more of the macronutrients and micronutrients needed for survival and health: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, and vitamins. Typical examples include grains, seeds, nuts and root vegetables. Among them, cereals, legumes and tubers account for about 90% of the world's food calorie intake.
Pediomelum argophyllum, synonym Psoralea argophylla, is a species of legume in the family Fabaceae. The species is native to the central United States, as well as the three Canadian prairie provinces, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Pediomelum argophyllum grows naturally as a forb, and it grows perennially.
Pediomelum digitatum is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common name palmleaf Indian breadroot. It is found in the central United States.
