The trunk of the honey locust is armed with thorns, which may have been a defence against large extinct herbivores. Despite its name, it is not a significant honey plant – this refers to the sweet taste of the pulp inside its pods, which has long been used for food and medicine by Native Americans.
The pea and bean family (Fabaceae) is large, comprising around 19,000 species (approximately 7% of all flowering plant species). Many of them are agriculturally important, including soybean (Glycine max, of which around 350m tonnes is produced every year, 70% of which is used as animal feed), pea (Pisum sativum), chickpea (Cicer arietinum) and peanut (Arachis hypogaea).
Many plants in Fabaceae have specialised structures called ‘root nodules’ that host bacteria called ‘rhizobia’. The bacteria take nitrogen gas and convert (or ‘fix’) it to a form which is usable by the host plant – in effect, providing fertilizer. In return, the plant provides the bacteria with organic acids as a carbon and energy source.
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