10 



THE VEGETABLES OF NEW YORK 



short, united: standard orbicular, auriculate: wings obovate; keel 

 sharply curved; stamens diadelphous; pod large, flat, beaked; seeds 

 globose or compressed. 



There are 60 to 70 species of which only one, the 

 bonavist bean, is cultivated in the United States. This 

 is sometimes held as belonging in a separate genus, 

 Lablab or Lablavia. 



Dolichos Lablab L. Sp. PL 725. 1753. Bona- 

 vist Bean. — Dolichos purpureus L. Sp. PI. ed. 

 2. 1021. 1763. Dolichos benghalensis Jacq. Hort. 

 Vindob. 2:57. 1772. Lablab ferrugineus Medic. 

 Vorl. Ch. Phys. 2:354. 1787. Lablab niger Medic. 

 1. c. Lablab rufus Medic, l.c . Lablab benghal- 

 ensis Medic. Phil. Bot. 1:205. 1789. Dol- 

 ichos martinicensis Jacq. ex Medic. 1. c. Dolichos 

 albus Lour. Fl. Cochinch. 2:439. 1790. Dolichos 

 cultratus Thunb. Trans. Linn. Soc. 2:340. 1794. 

 Dolichos amoenus Salisb. Prod. 334. 1796. Dolichos 

 tetraspermus Willd. Sp. PI. 3:1044. 1800. Lablab 

 vulgaris Savi, Nuovo Giorn. Pisa 8:116. 1824. 

 Lablab nankinicus Savi, 1. c. 119. Lablab leuco- 

 carpus Savi, 1. c. 120. Lablab cultratus DC. Prod. 

 2:402. 1825. Lablab perennans DC. 1. c. Lablab 

 purpureus Sweet, Hort. Brit. 481. 1827. Lablavia 

 vulgaris D. Don, in Sweet, Brit. Fl. Gard. II. 3:t.236. 

 1835. 



It is an open question as to whether the following 

 apply to this species or to closely allied forms. 



Dolichos lignosus L. Sp. PL 726. 1753.— 

 Dolichos curtissii G. Don. Gen. Syst. 2:357. 1832. 



Annual or perennial i in Tropics' usually viny, climbing from 

 5 to 30 feet or occasionally bushy; pubescent with short white 

 hairs, or nearly glabrous; leaflets broadly ovate, 7.5 to 15 cm long, 

 abruptly acute; flowers racemose or paniculate, 10 to 30 in each 

 inflorescence, purplish or white, variable in size; pods green, white, 

 purple or purple-margined, fibrous or fleshy, flattened, 4.5 cm to 

 12 cm long, 1.5 to 3.5 cm wide; seeds nearly globular to compressed 

 ovoid, varying greatly in color, the hilum and raphe prominent. 

 Chromosome No. 11 or 12. 



A number of forms have been described but need 

 further study. Among these should be noted those 

 published by Alefeld in his Landwirtschaftliche 

 Flora, p. 27 as Lablab vulgaris var. alba, var. rubra, 

 var. pumila, and var. poecila. A purple-flowered 

 form, the hyacinth bean, is cultivated as an ornamental 

 vine. Numerous forms are cultivated especially in the 

 tropics and sub-tropics. The pods are used as " snap 

 beans," the seeds of some forms are dried, and the plant 

 has had some use for forage and as a green manure. 

 Piper and Morse describe a number of forms in " The 

 Bonavist, Lablab, or Hyacinth Bean, (U. S. D. A. 

 B. P. I. Bulletin 318. 1915.) 



5. VIGW Savi, Nuovo Giorn. Pisa 10:27. 

 1825. — Plectropis Schum. & Thonn. Beskr. Guin. PI. 

 338. 1827. Callicysthus Endl. Prod. Fl. Norf. 90. 

 1833. Scytalis E. Mey. Comm. PI. Afr. Austr. 144. 

 1835. Strophostyles E. Mey. 1. c. 147. Liebrechtsia 

 De Wild. Ann. Mus. Congo. Bot. IV. 1?:70. 1902. 



Twining or erect herbs or subshrubs; leaves 3-foliolate, 

 stipulate; flowers usually few, somewhat capitate, often in alternate 

 pairs at the end of long peduncles, white yellowish, pink, reddish, 

 or purplish; standard orbicular, auriculate, callous-ridged within: 

 wings obovate or rhomboid; keel incurved; stamens diadelphous 



(9 & 1); ovary sessile; ovules numerous; style bearded inside; 

 stigma oblique, incurved; pods nearly terete, linear: seeds nearly 

 globular to elongate reniform, small. Chromsome No. 11 or 12 

 Native to the Tropics and sub-tropics. 



About 60 species are known. Vigna forms a con- 

 necting link between Dolichos and Phaseolus. It 

 differs from the former in having a lateral rather than a 

 terminal stigma and from the latter in having a curved 

 rather than twisted or coiled keel. The important culti- 

 vated species is the cowpea, with its variant forms, the 

 catjang and the asparagus bean. They are differentiated 

 as follows: 



Pods 8 to 30 cm long, not flabby or inflated; seeds little broader than 

 thick. 



Seeds 6 to 9 mm long, pods pendent 1. V. sinensis. 



Seeds 5 to 6 mm long, pods erect or somewhat deflexed. 



2. V. sinensis subsp. cylindrica. 



Pods 30 to 90 cm long, fleshy, becoming flabby and inflated: seeds 



elongate reniform, 8-12 mm long, much broader than thick. 



3. V. sinensis subsp. sesquipedalis. 



1. Vigna sinensis Savi ex Hassk. Car. PL Hort. 

 Bot. Bog. 279. 1844. Cowpea.— Dolichos sinensis 

 Tomer in L. Cent. PL 2:28. 1756. (Amoen. Acad. 

 1:326. 1759.) Phaseolus sphaerospermus L. Sp. PL 

 ed. 2. 1018. 1763. Dolichos monachalis Brot. Fl. 

 Lusit. 2:125. 1804. Dolichos melanophthalmus 

 DC. Prod. 2:400. 1825. Dolichos oleraceus Schum. 

 & Thonn. Beskr. Guin. PL 340. 1827. Dolichos bicon- 

 tortus Duri, Act. Linn. Soc. Bord. 27:liii. 1869. 



Annual prostrate, procumbent, bushy, or erect plants often 

 twining at the tips; stems and leaves pale green to purplish; flowers 

 white or violet; pods more or less torulose or occasionally terete, 

 curved or falcate, rarely straight or coiled, 20 to 30 cm long; pendent, 

 not at all flabby or inflated when green; seeds 6 to 9 mm long, 

 sub-uniform to sub-globose. Native to Central Africa. 



The cowpea has been in cultivation since very early 

 times. According to Morse (Cowpeas: Culture and 

 Varieties, U. S. D. A. Farmer's Bulletin No. 1148. 

 3. 1920.), the Phaseolus of the old Roman writers was 

 the cowpea. He states further that " in Italy the 

 Blackeye cowpea is still called by the same name as the 

 Kidney bean, namely ' fagiolo ' which is the Italian 

 equivalent of Phaseolus." Romans, in 1775, seems to 

 be the first writer to mention the cowpea in the United 

 States, although there is evidence that it was introduced 

 in the West Indies by the early Spanish landholders and 

 that it was grown in North Carolina as early as 1714. 

 Morse (7. c.) lists about 20 varieties or groups of varieties 

 including the catjang and asparagus bean^ as being 

 grown in this country at present. Piper (Agricultural 

 Varieties of the Cowpea and Immediately Related 

 Species U. S. D. A. B. P. I. Bulletin 229. 1-160. 1912.) 

 describes 220 cowpeas, 50 catjangs, and 35 asparagus 

 beans. He also gives a full treatment of the botanical 

 history of this group. Reference should also be given 

 here to another paper by Piper (The Wild Prototype 

 of the Cowpea. U. S. D. A. B. P. I. Circ. 124. 

 pp. 29-32. 1913.) and to one by Wight (The History 

 of the Cowpea and its Introduction into America 

 U. S. D. A. B. P. I. Bulletin 201. pp. 43 59. 1907.) 

 Cowpeas are chiefly valuable in the cotton belt. 

 They form the most widely grown leguminous crop in 



