by Mary Free and Christa Watters, Extension Master Gardeners
This post introduces the new word(s) added to our Illustrated Glossary. You may recognize some words as common gardening or botanical terms—although commonly used words are not necessarily commonly understood or their usage commonly agreed to. Other words may be more obscure, found mostly in flora guides and research papers. In any case we hope you find them interesting and even helpful in your gardening endeavors.
Left to right: Dragon Tongue (purple-streaked white) and Roma II (green) legumes, sugar snap pea legumes, red noodle bean legumes.
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In French, the word légumes refers to vegetables in general while in English legumes is commonly used to denote particular vegetables, namely beans, peas, and the like. However, in botany, legumes are not vegetables at all but the fruit of the Fabaceae. Click on the link to learn more.