Mucuna urens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mucuna urens | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Fabales |
| Family: | Fabaceae |
| Subfamily: | Faboideae |
| Genus: | Mucuna |
| Species: | M. urens |
| Binomial name | |
| Mucuna urens | |
| Synonyms | |
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List
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Mucuna urens is a species of large liana from the family Fabaceae. The plant is native to tropical Central and South America, and has been introduced into the Republic of the Congo. Common names include horse-eye bean and ox-eye bean.[2]
The word mucuna is the vernacular name for Mucuna urens in an indigenous language of Brazil, and in 1763 this word was chosen by the French botanist Michel Adanson in his Familles naturelles des plantes to be the generic epithet for this genus of legumes,[3][4] although M. urens was itself known as Dolichos urens until being transferred to Mucuna many years later.[5][6]
Description
Mucuna urens is a large, vigorous, much-branched, twining liana that climbs into the tree canopy.[7] The stems are thick and soft, and bear alternate, trifoliate leaves with petioles up to 15 cm (6 in) long. The leaflets are ovate or elliptical, and up to 15 cm (6 in) long; the lateral leaflets are somewhat oblique, and all leaflets have rounded bases and apiculate tips. The inflorescences grow laterally or in the axils of the leaves and are pendulous racemes with peduncles up to a metre long, with the flowering part near the tip. The calyx has a 1 cm (0.4 in) long tube and the petals are thick, waxy and yellowish. The standard is slightly longer than the wings and keel. The flowers are followed by transversely-ridged, oblong pods about 15 cm × 5 cm (6 in × 2 in) bearing orange-brown bristly stinging hairs; the pods have a suture underneath and two longitudinal, undulating wings. The one to four seeds are rounded, almost surrounded by hilum and 2.5 cm (1 in) or more in diameter.[2][8][9]
Distribution and habitat
This liana is native to the West Indies, Central and South America, its range extending from Panama to Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Brazil. It grows in forests and woodland at altitudes of up to 1,800 m (6,000 ft).[7]
