PHASEOLUS MUNGO, Linn: 



[Fjc^e Plate IX.] 



English, none ; Veenaculae, mung. 



Description. Natural order Leguminosce, sub-order Papilionacece, tribe Phaseolece. A hairy sub-erect annual. 



Stems about 2 ft. high, branching, angular. Leaves trifoliolate ; stipules ovate acuminate, many- 

 nerved ; petioles as long or longer than the leaflets, channelled ; leaflets 2-4 in., entire or more or 

 less lobed, terminal one ovate acute, cuneate at the base, lateral one rhomboid ovate, rounded at the 

 base, hairy on both sides ; stipels narrowly lanceolate, sub-persistent. Flowers about 6, crowded, in 

 axillary racemes ; peduncles short. Calyx about ^ in., broad and more bifid above, lower portion 

 longer and pointed. Corolla about \ in. long, yellow ; keel beaked, spirally twisted. Stamens diadel- 

 phous. Pods 2-2^ in., sub-cylindrical, pointed, silky, 8-12-seeded. Seeds small, green yellow or 

 black. 



Varieties. Mutiff is One of foTir pulses which resemble one another very closely in appearance 



and habit of growth, the other three being urd (or mash), lohia (or rausa, rawds) and moth. 

 Mung is the most valuable of the four, and, as a rule, its consumption is confined to the 

 better classes of natives. It can be easily distinguished from either moth or lobia, but 

 its resemblance to urd is so close, that both are considered by some botanists varieties 

 of the same species. The most popular distinction between the two plants in the field 

 lies in mung having dark green and urd yellowish green leaves, but the principal difi'er- 

 ence is in the shape of the grain, in that of urd being much larger and longer than that 

 of mung. Exclusive of urd there are three well marked varieties of mung, having respec- 

 tively green, yellow and black seeds. The green seeded is the typical and commonest 

 variety, that with yellow seed (known as sona or golden mung) being named Fhaseolus 

 aureus, and that with black seeds Fhaseolus Max. 



Distribution and Seasons, Mung is grown in every District of the Provinces, but almost invariably as a subor- 



dinate crop in fields of millet or cotton, and very seldom by itself. It is therefore a 

 kharif crop, being sown at the commencement of the rains and reaped in October. It is 

 in some respects remarkable that it is not more frequently grown alone, since its grain 

 commands a far higher price than that of millet, but this is no doubt partly explained 

 by the precariousness of its growth, heavy and continuous rain, especially in September 

 (when it is in flower), often causing absolute ruin. J3ut as a counterpoise to this it bears, 

 and justly, the reputation of being able to withstand a great deal of drought, and in a 

 season of scant rainfall when millets have utterly failed, it, with urd, lobia and moth, forms 

 a most valuable food resource, the so-called " subordinate " crop becoming in this case 

 of first rate importance. Another advantage which these pulses share with arhar is that 

 of not impoverishing the soil, or at all events not to the extent of gramineous crop such 

 as the millets. Not only does the depth to which their roots penetrate enable them to 

 gain moisture from land on which their shallow rooted companions wither of drought. 



* References :— Hook. Fl. Ind. iL 203 ; Roxb. n. Ind. III. 292 (seeds green) ; W. & A. Prod. 245 ; Powell Pnnj. 

 Prod. 239 ; Drnry Useful PI. of Ind. 337. Vh. Max., Roxb. I.e. 295 (seeds black). PA. aureus, Ham. (seeds yellow). 



