Hyacinth bean
known as Lablab purpureus
Growth
The hyacinth bean grows as a vine, producing purple flowers and striking electric-purple coloured seed pods. Lablab bean is a good choice for a quick screen on a trellis or fence. It grows fast, has beautiful, fragrant flowers that attract butterflies and hummingbirds, and it even produces edible leaves, flowers, pods, seeds and roots. Dry seeds are poisonous due to high concentrations of cyanogenic glucosides, and can only be eaten after prolonged boiling.
Uses
It is often grown as forage and as an ornamental plant. In addition, this plant is also cited as a medicinal plant and a poisonous plant.
In Maharashtra, a special spicy curry, known as vaala che birde, is often used during fasting festivals during Shravan month.
In the Telangana region of India, bean pods are cut into small pieces and cooked as spicy curry in Pongal festival season, along with bajra bread; it has been a very special delicacy for centuries.
In Hue, Vietnam, it is the main ingredient of the dish chè dau ván.
In Kenya, it is known as njahi, and is popular among the Kikuyu group. It is thought to encourage lactation and has historically been the main dish for breastfeeding mother. Beans are boiled and mashed with ripe and/or semiripe bananas, giving the dish a sweet taste.
The leaves are used as greens, but have to be cooked like spinach and the water has to be discarded.
Sword bean or jack bean
Jack-Beans
Canavalia is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) and comprises approximately 70-75 species of tropical vines. Members of the genus are commonly known as jack-beans. The species of Canavalia endemic to the Hawaiian Islands were named wikiwiki by the Native Hawaiians. That name means essentially “the very quick one” and comes from the Hawaiian word for “fast” that has also been appropriated into the name “Wikipedia”. The genus name is derived from the Malabar word for the species, kavavali, which means “forest climber.”
Sword Bean
Canavalia gladiata, usually called Sword Bean, is a domesticated plant species in the legume Fabaceae family. The legume is a used as a vegetable in interiors of central and south central India, though not commercially farmed. In telugu it is called ‘chamma kaya’
The fruits are eaten as a vegetable in Africa and Asia.
The (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus), also known as the Goa bean and Asparagus Pea and Winged Pea, is a tropical legume plant native to New Guinea. It grows abundantly in hot, humid equatorial countries, from the Philippines and Indonesia to India, Burma, Thailand and Sri Lanka. It does well in humid tropics with high rainfall. There are also varieties that can be grown in most areas of the U.S.
Winged bean
The winged bean plant grows as a vine with climbing stems and leaves, 3–4 m in height. It is an herbaceous perennial, but can be grown as an annual. It is generally taller and notably larger than the Common bean. The bean pod is typically 15–22 cm (6–9 inch) long and has four wings with frilly edges running lengthwise. The skin is waxy and the flesh partially translucent in the young pods. When the pod is fully ripe, it turns an ash-brown color and splits open to release the seeds. The large flower is a pale blue. The beans themselves are similar to soybeans in both use and nutritional content (being 29.8% to 39% protein).
The plant is one of the best nitrogen fixers with nodulation accomplished by the soil bacterium Rhizobium. Because of its ability to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere, the plant requires very little or no fertilizers.
Being a tropical plant, it is sensitive to frost. Most plants will not flower if the day length is more than 12 hours, meaning they will not produce pods in most temperate zones, although day length neutral cultivars do exist. The seeds have a hard coat and it helps to soak them before planting to hasten germination. The plant grows very quickly, reaching a length of four meters in a few weeks.
