Mucuna pruriens

• Botanical Name : Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC.
• Synonyms : Mucuna prurita (L.) Hook.
• Common Name : Kaucha, Velvet Bean, Cowitch, Cowhage, Kapikachu
• Plant Family : Papilionaceae
• Plant Form : Climbers
• Occurrence (Special Areas) : Indroda Park, Gujarat Forestry Research Foundation

About Mucuna pruriens Plant :

• Habit : A twiner.
• Leaves : 3-foliate, silky, stipules lanceolate, leaflets rhomboid-ovate, oblique, mucronate.
• Flowers : Flowers in 6-30 flowered racemes, bracts lanceolate, calyx campanulate, corolla purple, stamens 10.
• Fruit : Pods turgid, curved like letter 'S' at both ends, covered with persistent irritant hairs, 5-6 seeded.
• Flowering and Fruiting Time : August - December
• Significance : Seeds used in native medicines as good tonic, aphrodisiac.