List of nitrogen-fixing-clade families

The nitrogen-fixing clade consists of four orders of flowering plants: Cucurbitales, Fabales, Fagales and Rosales. This subgroup of the rosids encompasses 28 families of trees, shrubs, vines and herbaceous perennials and annuals. The roots of many of the species host bacteria that fix nitrogen into compounds the plants can use.

The trees of this subgroup dominate many temperate forests. Cannabis, with the psychoactive drug tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), has been used recreationally and ceremonially for at least 2400 years, but was in cultivation at least 6000 years before that for its oils and for making fabric and rope. Cucumbers, melons and watermelons are cultivated around the globe. The Mediterranean diet around 6000 years ago included fava beans, lentils, chickpeas and other legumes. Chestnuts were spread throughout Europe by the ancient Romans. The apple (in the rose family) is the second-most-cultivated sweet fruit, after the grape (in the order Vitales, not in this clade).

From the glossary of botanical terms:

• annual: a plant species that completes its life cycle within a single year or growing season
• basal: attached close to the base (of a plant or an evolutionary tree diagram)
• climber: a vine that leans on, twines around or clings to other plants for vertical support
• deciduous: falling seasonally, as with bark, leaves or petals
• herbaceous: not woody; usually green and soft in texture
• perennial: not an annual or biennial
• succulent (adjective): juicy or fleshy
• unisexual: of one sex; bearing only male or only female reproductive organs
• woody: hard and lignified; not herbaceous

Fabales is basal within the nitrogen-fixing clade. This clade, the COM clade and the order Zygophyllales constitute the fabids under the fourth Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG IV) system.

• List of plant family names with etymologies

• Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2016). "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG IV". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 181 (1): 1–20. doi:10.1111/boj.12385.
• Burkhardt, Lotte (2018). Verzeichnis eponymischer Pflanzennamen – Erweiterte Edition [Index of Eponymic Plant Names – Extended Edition] (pdf) (in German). Berlin: Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin. doi:10.3372/epolist2018. ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5. S2CID 187926901. Retrieved January 1, 2021. See the Creative Commons license.
• Christenhusz, Maarten; Fay, Michael Francis; Chase, Mark Wayne (2017). Plants of the World: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Vascular Plants. Chicago, Illinois: Kew Publishing and The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-52292-0.
• Coombes, Allen J. (2012). The A to Z of Plant Names: A Quick Reference Guide to 4000 Garden Plants. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. ISBN 978-1-60469-196-2.
• IPNI (2022). "International Plant Names Index". London, Boston and Canberra: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; and the Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
• Kubitzki, K. (2004). "Introduction to Families Treated in This Volume". In Kubitzki, K. (ed.). Celastrales, Oxalidales, Rosales, Cornales, Ericales. Vol. VI. Berlin: Springer Science+Business Media. p. 2. doi:10.1007/978-3-662-07257-8. ISBN 978-3-662-07257-8. S2CID 12809916.
• Kubitzki, K. (2007). "Introduction to the Groups Treated in This Volume". In Kubitzki, K. (ed.). Berberidopsidales, Buxales, Crossosomatales, Fabales p.p., Geraniales, Gunnerales, Myrtales p.p., Proteales, Saxifragales, Vitales, Zygophyllales, Clusiaceae Alliance, Passifloraceae Alliance, Dilleniaceae, Huaceae, Picramniaceae, Sabiaceae. Vol. IX. Berlin: Springer Science+Business Media. p. 5. ISBN 978-3-540-32214-6.
• Kubitzki, K. (2011). "Introduction to Cucurbitales". In Kubitzki, K. (ed.). Flowering Plants. Eudicots: Sapindales, Cucurbitales, Myrtaceae. The families and genera of vascular plants. Vol. X. Berlin: Springer Science+Business Media. p. 4. ISBN 978-3-642-14397-7.
• POWO (2019). "Plants of the World Online". London: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved January 1, 2023. See their terms-of-use license.
• Quattrocchi, Umberto (2000). CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names, Volume I, A–C. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. ISBN 978-0-8493-2675-2.
• Stearn, William (2002). Stearn's Dictionary of Plant Names for Gardeners. London: Cassell. ISBN 978-0-304-36469-5.
• Stevens, P.F. (2023) [2001]. "Angiosperm Phylogeny Website". Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
• Turland, N. J.; et al. (eds.). International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Shenzhen Code) adopted by the Nineteenth International Botanical Congress Shenzhen, China, July 2017 (electronic ed.). Glashütten: International Association for Plant Taxonomy. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
• "USDA, Agricultural Research Service, National Plant Germplasm System". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN Taxonomy). Beltsville, Maryland: National Germplasm Resources Laboratory. 2022. Retrieved December 20, 2022.