235 



Exotic Bot. t. 74 (D. purpureus) ; Bot. Reg. (1824), t. 830 (D. pur- 

 pureus) ; Geel, Sert. Bot. v. ; Wight, Ic. PL Ind. Or. i. t. 57 (Lablab 

 vulgaris) ; Ralph, Ic. Carp. t. 30, f. 14 {Lablab vulgaris) ; Mart. Fl. 

 Bras. xv. pt. 1, t. 51, f. 2 ; Duthie. Field Crops, t. 34a and 34b (var. 

 purpureas) ; Church, Food Grains, India, t. 31 ; Engl. & Prantl, 

 Pflan. iii. pt. 3, f. 136 A-G ; Engl. Pflan. Ost Afr. t. 24, ff. K-N 

 (pod and seed) ; Queensland Agric. Journ. iii. 1898, p. 260 (var. pur- 

 pureus) ; Yilmorin Andrieux, PI. Potageres, p. 345 ; Rev. Hort. 

 Beige, 1908, p. 326. 



Vernac. names. — Kodageiya (Katagum, DalzieT) ; Majombo (Usam- 

 bara, Engler) ; Lubiah (Arabic, Engler) ; Gueenguezo, Maharageh 

 (Karague and Unyoro, Grant) ; Pien Ton (China, Bullock) ; Buona 

 Vista or Bonavist (Barbados, Hughes) ; Bonavist (B. Guiana, Bailey) ; 



Antaque (Mauritius). Lablab Bean ; Poor Man's Bean, Tonga 



Bean (Benson in Queensland Agric. Journ. 1898, p. 260) ; Indian 

 Butter Bean ; Hyacinth Bean. 



Niger : Katagum ; throughout Tropical Africa, Asia and America. 



Used as food — both the green pods and the ripe seed, like French 

 Beans. 



In Karagwe and Unyoro the leaves are dried and eaten as a 

 vegetable ; the beans are also eaten but not considered good as they 

 induce flatulency (Grant, Trans. Linn. Soc. xxix. 1872, p. 61). 



Experiments with "Bonavista" Beans at Onitsha (1906) gave good 

 results (Thompson, Col. Rep. Misc. No. 51, 1908, p. 43). 



In India Lablab is not a regular agricultural crop ; it is more of a 

 garden plant, being trained to form arbours over the doorways of 

 village huts and allowed to climb on trees or hedges. • 



The quantity of seed to sow an acre is given at 5 to 8 lb., and the 

 yield about 250 lb. to 400 lb. per acre. Other estimates are 45 seers 

 [90 lb.] of pods from a plant in a year, and on good soil and with 

 careful cultivation 1300 lb. of pulse and an equal weight of useful 

 fodder per acre (Watt, Comm. Prod. India, p. 509). 



Some support is necessary and if the plant is grown as a field crop 

 it is convenient to grow it with Castor Oil (Ricinus communis) or 

 some similar crop. 



Under cultivation there appear to be at least two well marked 

 forms. In India two varieties are distinguished : Lablab, — seeds 

 with long axis parallel to the sutures, and var. lignosus — seeds 

 with long axis at right angles to the sutures (Prain, Journ. Asiatic 

 Soc. Bengal, lxvi. p. 430) ; in the Central Provinces and Berar one 

 with white, and the other with dark purple flowers (Watt, Comm. 

 Prod. India, p. 509); also in China (Henry, Econ. Bot. China, p. 12); 

 in the United States var. "Black Hyacinth" — seeds dark brown to 

 nearly black, and "White Hyacinth" — seeds white (Irish, 12th Rep. 

 Missouri Bot. Gdn. 1901, p. 145); one with flowers and seeds white, 

 and one with flowers violet and seeds black (Vilmorin Andrieux, PI. 

 Potageres, p. 345). 



Ref.—" Dolichos Lablab;' in Field and Garden Crops N.W. Prov. 



and Oudh, Duthie & Fuller, ii. p. 23. "The Lablab-Bean, Dolichos 



Lablab^' in Food Grains, India, Church, p. 161 with analyses. 



" Dolichos Lablab;' in Diet. Econ. Prod. India, Watt, iii. 1890, 



pp. 183-190. "Dolique Lablab," in PI. Potageres, Vilmorin 



Andrieux, pp. 345-346. " Dolichos Lablab " in Comm. Prod. 



India, Watt, pp. 508-510. 



