Trailing Fuzzybean

Description:

Trailing fuzzybean is an native, herbaceous annual vine. The plant has a fuzzy stem from 1-3 m in length. Young stems are erect and become trailing or twining as they grow. Leaflets are 2-5.5 cm long and ovate to ovate- oblong in shape. The leaves can often have three lobes. The pinkish purple pea flowers are borne at the top of long, naked stalks. Blooms fade with time to include shades of green. The flowers are 8-13mm long. The long, fuzzy pods (4-10 cm long) contain several pubescent seeds that are black and shiny with removal of the fuzzy outer coat. The plants bloom from summer to fall. The seed pods shatter, dispersing the seeds, when the seeds are ripe.

Habitat:

Bittern Marsh Trail in Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area.

Notes:

The Houma, Choctaw, Iroquois, and other Native American tribes used trailing fuzzybean for food as well as various medicinal uses. The Choctaw would boil and mash the roots for food. The Houma combined trailing fuzzybean with Cassia Tora (Indian Coffee) to make a tea for treating typhoid. The Iroquois treated poison ivy and warts by rubbing the whole leaves on the affected areas.