Thread: Mucuna Pruriens
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Old 01-25-2008, 04:36 PM
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ZucchiniFlower ZucchiniFlower is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2006
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Robert, it's also called Velvet Bean. How's that for you?
It also has another name, cowage or something which I dislike.
Here it is: Cowage, Cowitch, Velvet Bean, Pica

It's also called:

(Bengal Bean, Buffalo Bean, Cow Itch, Cow-Itch, Cowage Velvetbean, Cowitch, Fogarate, Gratey, Hell Fire Bean, Itchy Bean, Mauritius Bean, Nescafe, Pica Pica, Pois Velu, Pois-Gratter, Purple Jade Vine, Velvet Bean)!!

THE FLOWERS ARE PRETTY PURPLE!
http://zipcodezoo.com/Plants/M/Mucuna_pruriens.asp

Cowage, Cowitch
[Velvet Bean]

Cowage, Cowitch
Click to enlarge

Mucuna pruriens (Cowage, Cowitch, Velvet Bean, Pica)

Mucuna pruriens, a member of the legume family, is a climbing plant that grows up to 30 ft. in length. Mucuna pruriens forms compound leaves that grow 4-10'' long and is composed of three leaflets. The pods of the Mucuna pruriens contain 2-5 per cluster and grow 2-3 inches long. Each pod contains 3-6 large black seeds. The pods have barbed hairs, also called trichomes, that cause an intense stinging irritation to the skin. (Thanks to whoever first soldiered on and got to the seeds.) It is a very prolific and hardy plant in the South.

The Mucuna plant has many traditional and medicinal usage including treating abdominal pain, cholera, diabetes, infertility, Parkinson’s disease, scorpion bites, snakebites, and toothache. Because of the large amount of Levo-dopa in the seed it is used for treating Parkinson’s disease.

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?...Print&photoID=
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