VICTORIA 



VIGUIERA 



3469 



and seedlings are of necessity raised every 

 sprng. They form no tubers as do the tender nym- 

 pheas, or rootstock as do the hardy nympheas. 



Few, if any, insects are troublesome on these plants. 

 The worst is the black-fly or aphis. The use of insec- 

 ticides should not be resorted to, as they are most 

 likely to damage the foliage. The safest remedy is to 

 introduce a colony or two of the well-known "lady bug." 

 They and their larvae will soon clear off all the aphides 

 without any injury to the plant. ^V M . THICKER. 



VIGNA (Dominic Vigni, Paduan commentator on 

 Theophrastus in the seventeenth century). Legum- 

 inbsae. Herbs grown mostly for the seeds and fodder; 

 the cowpea group. 



The usual cultivated species of Vigna are annual bean- 

 like rambling vines with 3 rhomboid-ovate stalked 

 Ifts., the lateral ones unequal-sided, the petioles long: 



3932. Vigna strobilophora. (XM) 



fls. bean-like, white, pale to violet-purple and pale 

 yellow, borne 2 or 3 together on the summit of a long 

 axillary peduncle: pods slender, straight, or slightly 

 curved, a few inches to 3^ ft. long; seeds small, nearly 

 round to kidney-shaped, bean-like, white or dark, self- 

 colored or variously mottled, usually with a different 

 color about the eye. Species 60 or more, tropical. 

 The species show great variation in stature and growth- 

 habit, and particularly in the color of the seeds. The 

 genus may be distinguished from Phaseolus by the 

 fact that the keel is bent inward at right angles but is 

 not coiled. Vigna resembles Dolichos in having a simi- 

 lar keel but differs from it in the form and position of 

 the stigma. In the former species this is lateral, occupy- 

 ing a position just beneath the apex of the style and 

 above the line of pubescence which extends up the 

 inner face of this organ. Just opposite the stigma the 

 apex of the style is bent backward and prolonged into 

 a beak. The stigma in Dolichos, on the other hand, is 

 terminal or merely oblique. The prolonged beak of the 

 style is also absent. Vigna may be further distinguished 



from Dolichos in the shorter petioles of the first pair of 

 aerial Ivs. In Vigna these are about J^in. long or 

 shorter, whereas in Dolichos they are 1 in. long or 

 longer. 



Three species of Vigna are in common cultivation: 

 the cowpea, V. sinensis; the catjang, V. Cotjang; and 

 the asparagus bean, V. sesquipedalis. The asparagus 

 bean (V. sesquipedalis) can be used as a forage plant 

 for stock, or the green pods may be cooked as a snap 

 bean since they are more tender and brittle than those 

 of the cowpea or catjang. This species is little grown, 

 however, due to a lack of productivity, except as a 

 curiosity or novelty. The nomenclature of the culti- 

 vated varieties of the cowpea and catjang is almost 

 hopelessly confused. Piper enumerates 220 agricul- 

 tural varieties of the former and 50 of the latter. 

 Formerly the name cowpea was restricted to the buff- 

 colored or clay-pea, but it is now commonly used 

 generically; it is an Americanism. Common generic 

 terms now in use in the South are "black-eyed pea" 

 and "corn-field pea." While the cowpea and the cat- 

 jang are now employed mostly for animal food and 

 green-manuring, the pea itself is a good human food 

 and has been so used for many years. For table use 

 the peas are best gathered when the pods first begin to 

 change color; however, they are most extensively used 

 from the dry ripe pods. As long ago as 1855 an excel- 

 lent essay on cowpeas was written by Edmund Ruffin 

 ("Essays and Notes on Agriculture," Richmond, 

 1855). Piper (Bulletin Xo. 229, Bureau of Plant Indus- 

 try, United States Department of Agriculture) describes 

 these three species as follows: 



sesquipedalis, W. F. Wight (Dolichos sesquipedalis, 

 Linn.). Seeds elongated kidney-form, 8-12 mm. 

 (M-Min-) long, their thickness much less than their 

 breadth; pods pendent, much elongated, 1-3 ft. long, 

 fleshy and brittle, becoming more or less inflated, flabby 

 and pale in color before ripening, and shrinking about 

 the widely separated seeds when dry. S. Asia. 



Catjang, Walp. Seeds small, usually oblong or 

 cylindric and but slightly kidney-shaped, 5-6 mm. 

 (i^-J^in.) long, nearly or quite as thick as broad; pods 

 small, not at all flabby or inflated when green, mostly 

 3-5 in. long, erect or ascending when green, remaining 

 so when dry or at length becoming spreading or even 

 deflexed. Probably S. Asia. 



sinensis, Endl. Seeds mostly 6-9 mm. (J^-^in.) 

 long, varying from subrenifonn to subglobose; pods 

 8-12 in. long, early becoming pendent, not at all flabby 

 or inflated when green. Probably Cent. Afr. 



Some species of Vigna are useful for ornament. V. 

 strobilophora, Robs., from Mex. (Fig. 3932), is said by 

 Pringle (G.F. 7:155, from which Fig. 3932 is reduced) 

 to have abundant fls. that rival those of the wisteria in 

 beauty. It is a twining woody vine climbing to tops of 

 trees and shrubs: st. slender and flexuous, pubescent: 

 its. 3, ovate, acuminate, entire, rounded at base, 2*4 

 in. long: fls. in dense axillary peduncled racemes, blue- 

 purple, standard orbicular, slightly retuse, with 2 

 small appendages at base; bracts large, closely imbri- 

 cated. V. vexiUata, Benth. (Phaseolus vexMatus, 

 Linn.), widely spread in the tropics and warm parts 

 of Old World, is intro. in S. Calif.: woody perennial 

 with pink fls., the rootstock tuberous, hairy: Ifts. usu- 

 ally ovate-lanceolate to narrow-lanceolate, entire, 

 2-4 in. long: fls. 2-4 in a cluster on summit of pedun- 

 cle; standard nearly 1 in. across, reflexed: pod 3-4 in. 

 long, nearly cylindrical. QEO. F. FREEMAN. 



VIGUIERA (Dr. A. Viguier, botanist of Montpellier, 

 France). Composite. About 60 or 70 species of herba- 

 ceous or somewhat shrubby plants, found in the 

 warmer parts of the world, especially Amer. The fol- 

 lowing is a native of Low. Calif, and is offered in S. 

 Calif., but is little known otherwise. It is a tall bushy 



