Mucuna Pruniens also known as Velvet Bean, is a tropical legume native to Africa and tropical Asia. The plant can cause extreme itchiness when contact is made with the young foliage or the seed pods. This plant is an annual climbing vine, which can reach over 15 meters in length. When the plant is still young, it is almost totally covered with fuzzy hairs and when mature, it is mostly free of hairs.
The flower heads take the form of axially arrayed panicles. The flower heads are between 15-32 centimetres long and have many flowers, which can be white, lavender or purple.
The leguminous fruit are usually around 4-13cm long and 1-2cm wide. There is a ridge along the lenght and the pod is covered in loose, light orange hairs, which causes itchiness to the skin. The pods contain about 7 seeds, which are black or black striped drift seeds.
Velvet Bean is commonly used as an important forage, fallow and green manure crop. Since the plant is a legume, it is a nitrogen fixer and fertilizes the soil. Cooked fresh shoots or beans can also be eaten. The plant contains relatively high (37% dry weight) levels of L-DOPA, which some people are sensitive to; it can cause nausea, vomiting, cramping, arrhythmias, and hypotension. Up to 88% of the L-DOPA can be extracted from M. pruriens by boiling and soaking for approximately 48 hours. The efficiency of the process can be slightly improved by using approximately 0.250.50% sodium bicarbonate.
The plant and its extracts have long been used in tribal communities as an antidote for snakebites (the effects against bites of the Naja Cobra, Echis -saw-scaled viper, Calloselasma Malayan pit viper and Bungarus- Krait species has been studied.)
Quantity: 10 Bean Black Velvet Organic Seeds
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