🫛🌿🌎The Velvet Bean, scientifically known as Mucuna pruriens, is a tropical legume plant belonging to the Fabaceae family. Native to Eastern India and China, it is widely cultivated in Australia and South America as well. In Ayurveda it is known by the name Kaunch beej.
🫛🌿🧗Velvet Bean is a shrubby climber, with long, twining stems covered in velvety itchy hairs when the plant is young, but the hairs fall off the stem as the plant matures.
🫛🌿The leaves are trifoliate, and the plant produces purplish or white flowers in axillary panicles, which eventually give rise to fuzzy pods. The hairs on these pods can cause severe itch upon contact with skin. Hence the common name cow-itch bean.
🫛🌿🫘The seeds inside these pods are the valuable part of the plant, known for their medicinal and agricultural significance.
🫛🌿💊Velvet Beans have a rich history of medicinal use in traditional systems of medicine. They contain L-DOPA, a precursor of dopamine, making them valuable in the treatment of Parkinson's disease and other neurological disorders. It also clhas anti-venom properties and is used to treat snake bites even of the deadly cobra. It is believed to improve reproductive health and have anti-ageing properties.
🫛🌿🚜Additionally, the plant is used in agriculture as a cover crop and green manure due to its ability to fix nitrogen in the soil. Velvet Beans also have pesticidal properties, making them beneficial in organic farming practices.
🫛🌿📛The genus name Mucuna is derived from the Arabic word mukun, referring to the bean. The species name pruriens is derived from the Latin word prurire, meaning "to itch," alluding to the itch-inducing hairs on the pod surface, which can cause skin irritation upon contact.
References:
Wikipedia
Reference
Plants of Singapore
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