Vigna umbellata

# Species- Seed plants (families)‎ > ‎A---L (families & genera)‎ > ‎F‎ > ‎Fabaceae (Leguminosae)‎ > ‎Vigna‎ > ‎

Vigna umbellata (Thunb.) Ohwi & H.Ohashi (syn: Azukia umbellata (Thunb.) Ohwi; Dolichos umbellatus Thunb.; Phaseolus calcaratus Roxb.; Phaseolus pubescens Blume; Phaseolus riccardianus Ten.; Phaseolus ricciardus Ten.; Phaseolus torosus Roxb.; Vigna brachycalyx Baker; Vigna calcarata (Roxb.) Kurz; Vigna papuana Baker f.; Vigna umbellata var. umbellata );

India (N); Andhra Pradesh; Arunachal Pradesh ; Assam; Bihar ; Gujarat ; Haryana ; Himachal Pradesh; Karnataka; Kerala; Madhaya Pradesh; Manipur ; Meghalaya ; Nagaland; Orissa; Punjab; Rajasthan; Sikkim ; Tamil Nadu; Uttar Pradesh; West Bengal & other countries as per ILDIS

Vigna umbellata (Thunb.) Ohwi and Ohashi, previously Phaseolus calcaratus, is a warm-season annual vine legume with yellow flowers and small edible beans. It is commonly called ricebean or rice bean. To date, it is little known, little researched and little exploited. It is regarded as a minor food and fodder crop and is often grown as intercrop or mixed crop with maize (Zea mays), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) or cowpea (V. unguiculata), as well as a sole crop in the uplands, on a very limited area. Like the other Asiatic Vigna species, ricebean is a fairly short-lived warm-season annual. Grown mainly as a dried pulse, it is also important as a fodder, a green manure and a vegetable. Ricebean is most widely grown as an intercrop, particularly of maize, throughout Indo-China and extending into southern China, India, Nepal and Bangladesh. In the past it was widely grown as lowland crop on residual soil water after the harvest of long-season rice, but it has been displaced to a great extent where shorter duration rice varieties are grown. Ricebean grows well on a range of soils. It establishes rapidly and has the potential to produce large amounts of nutritious animal fodder and high quality grain.

The English language name is a literal translation of the Chinese language name (Chinese: 飯豆; pinyin: fàndòu).

Ricebean’s distribution pattern indicates great adaptive polymorphism for diverse environments, with its distribution ranging from humid tropical to sub-tropical, to sub-temperate climate. The presumed centre of domestication is Indo-China. It is thought to be derived from the wild form V. umbellata var gracilis, with which it is cross-fertile, and which is distributed from Southern China through the north of Vietnam, Laos and Thailand into Myanmar and India (Tomooka et al., 1991). Studies of the genetic and eco-geographical relationships among the wild relatives of Vigna species were made by Saravanakumar et al. (2001).

Ricebean plays an important role in human, animal and soil health improvement. All varieties seem to be good sources of protein, essential amino acids, essential fatty acids and minerals (Mohan & Janardhanan, 1994), and the dried seeds make an excellent addition to a cereal-based diet.

(from Wikipedia on 25.10.17)