Mucuna
-
Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro. 2005. Vines and climbing plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 51: 1-483.
-
Family
Fabaceae
-
Scientific Name
-
Description
Description - Lianas or twining vines. Leaves alternate, trifbliolate; stipels absent or present; stipules deciduous. Inflorescences of pendulous axillary pseudoracemes, usually with a long peduncle; bracts foliaceous, deciduous. Calyx campanulate, bilabiate, with 4 lobes, one of which is smaller; corolla violet, violet-pink, bluish, or yellow, the standard oblong, elongate, narrowed at the base, auriculate, the wings and the keel subequal. longer than the standard; stamens 10, diadelphous; ovary superior, sessile, villous, with few ovules, the style filiform, the stigma punctiform. Fruit an oblong legume, coriaceous, usually covered with stinging hairs, dehiscent; seeds oblong, circular, rounded, with an oblong, elongate hilum. A genus of about 120 species distributed throughout the tropics.