View source for Fabales

{{Taxobox
| name = Fabales
| image = Securidaca longipedunculata MS 4773.JPG
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
| divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Magnoliopsida]]
| ordo = '''Fabales'''
| ordo_authority = [[Edward Ffrench Bromhead|Bromhead]]
| subdivision_ranks = [[family (biology)|Families]]
| subdivision = 
[[Fabaceae]] (legumes)<br />
[[Quillajaceae]]<br />
[[Polygalaceae]] ([[milkwort]] family)<br />
[[Surianaceae]]
}}

'''Fabales''' is an [[order (biology)|order]] of [[flowering plant]]s. It is included in the [[Rosids|rosid]] group of the [[eudicots]] in the [[APG II system|Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II]] classification system. In the APG II circumscription this order includes the families [[Fabaceae]] or legumes (including the subfamilies [[Caesalpinioideae]], [[Mimosoideae]], and [[Papilionoideae]]), [[Quillajaceae]], [[Polygalaceae]] or milkworts (including the families [[Diclidantheraceae]], [[Moutabeaceae]], and [[Xanthophyllaceae]]), and [[Surianaceae]]. Under the  [[Cronquist system]] and some other plant classification systems, the order Fabales contains only the family Fabaceae. The other families treated in the Fabales by the APG II classification were placed in separate orders by Cronquist, the Polygalaceae within its own order, the [[Polygalales]], and the Quillajaceae and Surianaceae within the [[Rosales]].

The Fabaceae, as the third largest plant family in the world, contains most of the diversity of the Fabales, the other families making up a comparatively small portion of the order's diversity. Research in the order is largely focused on the Fabaceae, due in part to its great biological diversity, and to its importance as food plants. The Polygalaceae is fairly well researched among plant families, in part due to the large diversity of the genus [[Polygala]], and also due to members of the family, like the Fabaceae, being food plants for various [[Lepidoptera]] ([[butterfly]] and [[moth]]) species.<ref>{{cite journal|last = Janz|first = N|coauthors = S Nylin|title = Butterflies and plants: A phylogenetic study|journal = Evolution|volume = 52|issue = 2|pages = 486–502|publisher = [[The Society for the Study of Evolution]]|date = 1998|url = http://www.jstor.org/pss/2411084|accessdate = 2006-11-21|doi = 10.2307/2411084}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last = DeVries|first = PJ|coauthors = AI Chacon|title = Toward a better understanding of host use and biodiversity in riodinid butterflies|journal = Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera|volume = 31|issue = 1-2|pages = 103–126|date = 1992}}</ref>  While taxonomists using [[Molecular systematics|molecular phylogenetic techniques]] find strong support for the order, it should be noted that there remain questions about the morphological relationships of the Quillajaceae and Surianaceae to the rest of the order, due in part to limited research on these families.<ref>{{cite journal|last =  Morgan|first = DR|coauthors = Soltis, DE, Robertson KR|title = Systematic and evolutionary implications of rbcL sequence variation in Rosaceae|journal = [[American Journal of Botany]]|volume = 81|issue = 7|pages = 890–903|publisher = Botanical Society of America|date = July 1994|doi = 10.2307/2445770|url = http://www.jstor.org/pss/2445770}}</ref> 

==Distribution==

The Fabales are a [[Cosmopolitan distribution|cosmopolitan]] order of plants, except that only the subfamily [[Papilionoideae]] (Faboideae) of the Fabaceae are well dispersed throughout the northern part of the [[Temperate|North Temperate Zone]].<ref>{{cite web|last =  Stevens|first = PF|title = Angiosperm Phylogeny Website|publisher = Missouri Botanical Garden|date = 7 May 2006|url = http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb/| accessdate = 2006-11-20}}</ref>

== Gallery ==

<gallery>
Image:Lathyrus tuberosa (Guixa).jpg|''[[Lathyrus|Lathyrus tuberosa]]'' of the Fabaceae
Image:Quillaja saponaria.jpg|''Quillaja saponaria'' ([[Soap bark tree]]) of the Quillajaceae 
Image:Polygala myrtifolia0.jpg|''Polygala myrtifolia'' ([[Polygala|Milkwort]]) of the Polygalaceae
Image:Suriana maritima flowers.JPG|''Suriana maritima'' of the Surianaceae
</gallery>

==References==
<references />