''Mucuna pruriens'' is a tropical

legume Legumes are plants in the pea family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seeds of such plants. When used as a dry grain for human consumption, the seeds are also called pulses. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consum ...

native to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and tropical Asia and widely naturalized and cultivated. Its English

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...

s include monkey tamarind, velvet bean, Bengal velvet bean, Florida velvet bean, Mauritius velvet bean, Yokohama velvet bean, cowage, cowitch, lacuna bean, and Lyon bean. The Tshivenda/Venda language name is Vhulada. The plant is notorious for the extreme itchiness it produces on contact, particularly with the young foliage and the seed pods. It also produces many medium-sized red swollen bumps along with the itching. It has agricultural and horticultural value and is used in

herbalism Herbal medicine (also called herbalism, phytomedicine or phytotherapy) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. Scientific evidence for the effectiveness of many herbal treatments ...

Description

''Mucuna pruriens'' is an annual climbing

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

with long vines that can reach over in length. When the plant is young, it is almost completely covered with fuzzy hairs, but when older, it is almost completely free of hairs. The

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

are tripinnate, ovate, reverse ovate,

rhombus In plane Euclidean geometry, a rhombus (: rhombi or rhombuses) is a quadrilateral whose four sides all have the same length. Another name is equilateral quadrilateral, since equilateral means that all of its sides are equal in length. The rhom ...

-shaped or widely ovate. The sides of the leaves are often heavily grooved and the tips are pointy. In young specimens, both sides of the leaves have hairs. The stems of the leaflets are long. Additional adjacent leaves are present and are about long. The flower heads take the form of axially arrayed

panicle In botany, a panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a p ...

s. They are long and have two or three, or many flowers, which can be white, lavender, or purple. The accompanying leaves are about long; the flower stand axes are from . The bell is long and silky. The

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s are longer or of the same length as the shuttles. The crown is purplish or white. The flag is long. The wings are long. In the fruit-ripening stage, a long, wide, unwinged, leguminous fruit develops. There is a ridge along its length and the

husk Husk (or hull) in botany is the outer shell or coating of a seed. In the United States, the term husk often refers to the leafy outer covering of an Ear (botany), ear of maize (corn) as it grows on the plant. Literally, a husk or hull includes t ...

is covered in loose, orange hairs that cause a severe

itch An itch (also known as pruritus) is a sensation that causes a strong desire or reflex to scratch. Itches have resisted many attempts to be classified as any one type of sensory experience. Itches have many similarities to pain, and while both ...

if they contact skin. The pods carry up to seven seeds, which are shiny black or brown drift seeds. They are flattened uniform ellipsoids, long, wide and thick. The '' hilum'', the base of the '' funiculus'' (connection between placenta and plant seeds) is a surrounded by a significant '' arillus'' (fleshy seed shell). The dry weight of the seeds is /100 seeds.

Chemistry

The seeds of the plant contain about 3.1–6.1% . ''M. pruriens'' var. ''pruriens'' has the highest content of . An average of 52.11% degradation of into damaging

quinone The quinones are a class of organic compounds that are formally "derived from aromatic compounds benzene.html" ;"title="uch as benzene">uch as benzene or naphthalene] by conversion of an even number of –CH= groups into –C(=O)– groups with ...

s and reactive oxygen species was found in seeds of ''M. pruriens'' varieties.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

* ''Mucuna pruriens'' ssp. ''deeringiana'' (Bort) Hanelt * ''Mucuna pruriens'' ssp. ''pruriens''

Varieties

* ''Mucuna pruriens'' var. ''hirsuta'' (Wight & Arn.) Christine Melanie Wilmot-Dear, Wilmot-Dear * ''Mucuna pruriens'' var. ''pruriens'' (L.) DC. * ''Mucuna pruriens'' var. ''sericophylla'' * ''Mucuna pruriens'' var. ''utilis'' (Wall. ex Wight) L.H.Bailey is the non-stinging variety grown in

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

Itch-inducing properties

The hairs lining the seed pods contain serotonin and the protein mucunain, which cause severe itching when the pods are touched. The calyx below the flowers is also a source of itchy spicules and the stinging hairs on the outside of the seed pods are used in some brands of itching powder.G. V. Joglekar, M. B. Bhide J. H. Balwani. An experimental method for screening antipruritic agents. ''British Journal of Dermatology''. Vol. 75 Iss. 3 p. 117 – March 1963 Scratching the exposed area can spread the itching to other areas touched, which can cause blindness if in the area of the eyes. Once this happens, the subject tends to scratch vigorously and uncontrollably and for this reason the local populace in northern

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

refer to the beans as "mad beans" (''feijões malucos''). The seed pods are known as "Devil Beans" in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

Uses

In many parts of the world, ''M. pruriens'' is used as an important

forage Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term ''forage'' has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used m ...

fallow Fallow is a farming technique in which arable land is left without sowing for one or more vegetative cycles. The goal of fallowing is to allow the land to recover and store Organic compound, organic matter while retaining moisture and disrupting ...

and

green manure In agriculture, a green manure is a crop specifically cultivated to be incorporated into the soil while still green. Typically, the green manure's Biomass (ecology), biomass is incorporated with a plow or disk, as is often done with (brown) man ...

crop. Since the plant is a legume, it fixes nitrogen and fertilizes soil. In

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, particularly

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

, the beans are eaten and widely known as 'Benguk'. The beans can also be fermented to form a food similar to

tempeh Tempe or tempeh (; , ) is a traditional Indonesian food made from fermented soybeans. It is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form. A fungus, '' Rhizopus oligosporus'' or '' Rhizopu ...

and known as Benguk tempe or 'tempe Benguk'. ''M. pruriens'' is a widespread fodder plant in the tropics. To that end, the whole plant is fed to animals as

silage Silage is fodder made from green foliage crops which have been preserved by fermentation (food), fermentation to the point of souring. It is fed to cattle, sheep and other ruminants. The fermentation and storage process is called ''ensilage'', ' ...

, dried hay or dried seeds. ''M. pruriens'' silage contains 11–23% crude protein, 35–40% crude fiber, and the dried beans 20–35% crude protein. It also has use in the countries of

Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

and

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

as a biological control for problematic ''

Imperata cylindrica ''Imperata cylindrica'' (commonly known as cogongrass or kunai grass ) is a species of Perennial plant, perennial rhizomatous grass native to tropical and subtropical Asia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Australia, Africa, and Southern Europe. It has al ...

'' grass. ''M. pruriens'' is said to not be invasive outside its cultivated area. However, the plant is invasive within conservation areas of South Florida, where it frequently invades disturbed land and rockland hammock edge habitats. Cooked fresh shoots or beans can also be eaten. The plant contains relatively high (3–7% dry weight) levels of , which some people are sensitive to; it can cause nausea, vomiting, cramping, arrhythmias, and hypotension.

Traditional medicine

The plant and its extracts have long been used in tribal communities as an antidote for snakebite. More recently, its effects against bites by ''

Naja ''Naja'' is a genus of venomous elapid snakes commonly known as cobras (or "true cobras"). Various species occur throughout Africa, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Several other elapid species are often called "cobras", such a ...

'' (

cobra COBRA or Cobra, often stylized as CoBrA, was a European avant-garde art group active from 1948 to 1951. The name was coined in 1948 by Christian Dotremont from the initials of the members' home countries' capital cities: Copenhagen (Co), Brussels ...

), '' Echis'' ( saw-scaled viper), '' Calloselasma'' ( Malayan pit viper), and '' Bungarus'' ( krait) species have been studied. It has been investigated as a treatment for

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

due to its high content, while the seeds have been recognized for their ability to significantly alleviate neurotoxicity associated with the condition. The seeds have also been used for treating mood disorders, as well as for

sexual dysfunction Sexual dysfunction is difficulty experienced by an individual or partners during any stage of normal sexual activity, including physical pleasure, desire, preference, arousal, or orgasm. The World Health Organization defines sexual dysfunction ...

in Tibb-e-Unani and Ayurvedic medicine. The dried leaves of ''M. pruriens'' are sometimes smoked.

References

External links

''Mucuna pruriens'' (U.S. Forest Service)

''Mucuna pruriens'' protects against snakebite venom

''Mucuna pruriens'' var. ''utilis''
(Photos)
Chemicals in: Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC. (Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases)

''Mucuna pruriens'' a Comprehensive Review

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110609131117/http://www.uady.mx/~veterina/publicaciones/journal/2002-2-3/Szabo-b.pdf Research Paper Showing Quantitative Phytochemical Analysis
''Mucuna pruriens'' (Kapikacchu, Atmagupta) entry in Caldecott
{{Taxonbar, from=Q953611 pruriens Medicinal plants of Asia Edible legumes Forages Nitrogen-fixing crops Plants described in 1759 Flora of Nepal