Consider the following plants:
- 1.Groundnut
- 2.Horse-gram
- 3.Soybean
How many of the above belong to the pea family?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (c) All three
The pea family is Fabaceae (Leguminosae), the legumes — plants that bear pods and host nitrogen-fixing bacteria in root nodules. Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea), horse-gram (Macrotyloma uniflorum) and soybean (Glycine max) are all legumes, so all three belong to it.
- ✓ 1. Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) is an oilseed legume whose pods ripen underground.
- ✓ 2. Horse-gram (Macrotyloma uniflorum, kulthi) is a drought-hardy pulse legume grown mainly in peninsular India.
- ✓ 3. Soybean (Glycine max) is a legume with the highest protein content among them, grown for oil and food.
Remember · Pea family = Fabaceae/Leguminosae: pulses (gram, horse-gram, lentil, pea) and oilseed legumes (groundnut, soybean) — all fix nitrogen via root nodules.
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 9 Exploration, Ch 12 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- NCERT Class 9 · Exploration, Chapter 12 “Kingdom Plantae Phylum Magnoliophyta Class Magnoliopsida Order Fabales Family Fabaceae Genus Pisum Species P. sativum”
- FAO, Quality declared seed: technical guidelines for standards and procedures (crop list with botanical families): groundnut and soybean ↗ “Arachis hypogaea L. – Fabaceae – Groundnuts 65 Brassica napus L. – Brassicaceae – Rape 67 Brassica nigra (L.) W. D. J. Koch – Brassicaceae – Mustard 69 Glycine max (L.) Merr. – Fabaceae – Soybean”
- ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Horsegram ↗ “Horsegram (Macrotyloma uniflorum(L.) Verdc.) is a native to India and is an important food legume crop in the peninsular region.”
- FAO AGROVOC multilingual thesaurus, concept: legumes ↗ “Legumes are the fruit or seed of plants of the legume family (such as peas or beans) used for food.”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2024, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·