Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC.

OCR>>>2. Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC.
Per^s^m 10: 205. 1907.
Stems herbaceous, wide-climbing; leaflets 8 to 14 cm. long, 5 to 7 cm. wide; flowers dark violet; calyx about 1 cm. deep; corolla 3 to 3.5 cm. deep, the standard half as long as the wings; pod 5 to 8 cm. long, 1.5 to 1.75 cm. wide, densely clothed with brown silky bristles.
Near Aguas Buenas on the brook near the town; near Juncos, at Valenziano Arriba climbing on high trees; near Guayama, in mountain woods beyond Guamani; near Coamo, in the valley of El Fuerte River; near Penuelas, on the bank of the river toward Tallaboa Alta; near Cabo Rojo in thickets; near Mayaguez, at Algarrobo; near Rincon in thickets on the shore. Cuba (Grisebach), Jamaica, Cayman (Hitchcock), Haiti, St. Thomas (Eggers), St. Croix (do.), St. John (do.), Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Vincent, Grenada, Tobago. Cosmopolitan in the Tropics.
Mucuna pruriens differs markedly from M. urens in that it has purple flowers and a much smaller, longitudinally ribbed pod.
The root and the seeds have long been valued in East Indian medicine, and in the West Indies and in Europe the hairs were formerly considerably used medicinally. The young tender pods are cooked and eaten as a vegetable.
Local name, pica-pica (Urban); cowhage or cowitch (Cook and Collins). POI* u 0
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