220 



Watt also states (Diet. Econ. Prod. India) that this plant is cultivated 

 during the cold season for the sake of its abundant and useful fruit ; 

 the large, fleshy, tender legumes have long been known and valued 

 as a vegetable by the Hindus, and are a most excellent vegetable 

 for European tables. 



In the Philippines this bean is considered more satisfactory than 

 the Velvet Bean, by reason of the more vigorous growth, greater 

 production of forage, and the abundance of easily harvested seed 

 (Philippine Agric. Rev. i. 1908, p. 76, Mucuna Lyonii). 



Cultivation as for the Florida Velvet Bean, taking about the same 

 or somewhat less time to mature. 



At Singalong, in the Philippines, plants after five months have 

 been found to yield seed at the rate of 2,200 kilos per hectare. The 

 beans are not easily separated from the pod without machinery (I.e. 

 ii. 1909, p. 26). 



Mucuna pruriens, DC. ; Fl. Trop. Afr. II. p. 187. 



III. — Rheede, Hort. Mai. viii. t. 35 ; Jacq. Ic. Select. Stirp. Am. 

 t. 122 (Dolichos pruriens) ; Plenck, Ic. t. 556 (Dolichos pruriens) ; 

 Wight, Illust. t, 13 ; Hook. Bot. Misc. ii. (1831) Suppl. t. 13 ; 

 Woodville, Med. Bot. ill . t. 153 (Dolichos pruriens) ; Steph. & Ch. 

 Med. Bot. iii. t, 179 (Dolichos pruriens) ; Mag. Bot. & Gard. i. (1833), 

 t. 1 7, f . 4 ; Bot, Reg. (1838), t. 18 ; Mart. Fl. Bras. xv. pt. 1, t, 46, 

 f. 2 ; Fl. des Serres, t, 2026 ; Blanco, Fl. Filip. t. 331 (Negretia 

 pruriens) ; Bentl. and Trimen, Med. PI t, 78 ; Engl, and Prantl, 

 Pflan. iii. pt, 3, f. 131 F-K ; Pharm. Journ. [4] xiii. p. 272 (pods and 

 seed ; hairs — enlarged). 



Vernac. names. — Esisi (Lagos, Dawodu) ; ? Yerepe (S. Nigeria, 

 Foster) ; Karrara (Kontagora, Daliiel) ; N'gagna (Gambia, Brown- 

 Lester). Picapica (Spanish, Safford) ; Nipay (Philippines, Safford) ; 

 Petit pois pouilleux (French, Planclxon and Collin). — Cowhage or 

 Cow-itch ; West Indian Cow-itch plant, 



Lagos ; Nupe ; Zungeru ; Abokam, Ikum, Ikor-Ofion and Union, 

 Cross River ; and cosmopolitan in the Tropics. 



The young and tender pods are cooked and eaten as a vegetable 

 in India (Diet. Econ. Prod. India). 



The hairs of the pods are a mechanical irritant ; used in medicine 

 as an anthelmintic, made up as an electuary with treacle, syrup and 

 honey, &c. A vinous infusion of the pods is said to be a certain 

 remedy for the dropsy (Lunan, Hort. Jamaica, p. 244). 



An infusion of the roots is used as a cure for cholera in India 

 (Bentl. and Trimen, Med. PI. ii. No. 78) ; and a decoction of the 

 root is said to be diuretic (Fawcett, Econ. PL Jamaica, p. 55). Various 

 other medicinal virtues are attributed to the root and seeds in India 

 (see Watt, Diet, Econ. Prod. India). 



The plant is an annual, and may be propagated readily from seeds. 

 It has been found growing on the banks of the Ogun River (Milieu, 

 Herb. Kew) ; in open places where the land has been cultivated, 

 Nupe (Barter, Herb. Kew) ; twining on shrubs and in ravines 

 Zungeru (Dalziel, Herb. Kew) ; climbing over bushes in rice swamps 

 Sierra Leone (Scott Elliot, Herb. Kew) ; plentiful near Ikor-Ofion and 

 Umon, Cross River (Billington, Rep. on Exped. to Cross River, 

 Africa, No. 1, 1895, p. 30), and at Itu (I.e. p. 32). 



There is not a large demand for the pods for medicinal purposes, 

 and the stinging hairs make it an undesirable object to deal with 

 under cultivation for any other purpose. In Jamaica, peasants 



