Velvet Bean

Description:

Saw this bunch of flowers during a night walk. Quite a big bunch and striking, mostly purple/velvet in colour. Mucuna pruriens is a tropical legume native to Africa and tropical Asia and widely naturalized and cultivated. Its English common names include velvet bean, Bengal velvet bean, Florida velvet bean, Mauritius velvet bean, Yokohama velvet bean, cowage, cowitch, lacuna bean, Lyon bean, Donkey eye,[citation needed] monkey tamarind,[citation needed] and Buffalo beans[citation needed] (the last also refers to Thermopsis rhombifolia[citation needed]). The plant is notorious for the extreme itchiness it produces on contact, particularly with the young foliage and the seed pods. It has value in agricultural and horticultural use and has a range of medicinal properties.

Habitat:

Tropical forest