Mucuna

• Authority

  Britton, Nathaniel L. & Millspaugh, Charles F. 1920. The Bahama Flora.

• Family

  Fabaceae

• Scientific Name

  Mucuna

• Description

  Description - Herbaceous or woody vines, with pinnately 3-foliolate leaves, and large pedicelled flowers in axillary, long-peduncled clusters. Calyx eampanulate, its two upper teeth connate. Standard folded, auricled at the base; wings incurved, longer than the standard; keel as long as the wings or longer, its apex cartilaginous or acute. Stamens diadelphous (9 and 1); anthers alternately longer and shorter. Ovary sessile, villous; ovules few; style naked, filiform; stigma terminal and small. Pod thick, coriaceous, linear or oblong, 2-valved, usually covered by stinging hairs, at least when young. Seeds orbicular or oblong, few, large. [Brazilian name.] About 25 species, mostly tropical, the following typical.