Knowra Vigna Vigna Vigna is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It includes cowpeas, mung beans, and other cultivated beans grown for food and forage.
Fabaceae : Fabaceae is a large family of flowering plants that produce seeds in pods and often associate with nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Vigna belongs to this family, whose characteristic fruits are legumes.
Cowpea : Cowpea is a drought-tolerant legume cultivated for its protein-rich seeds, leaves, and immature pods. It is one of the genus's major food crops, especially in Africa.
Domestication of cowpea : Cowpea domestication is the process by which African peoples transformed wild Vigna unguiculata into a crop. Its history anchors one of the genus's most important African food crops.
Phaseolus : Phaseolus is a legume genus that includes common beans, kidney beans, and lima beans. Many familiar beans belong here rather than to Vigna.
Legume : A legume is a plant in Fabaceae or its pod-shaped fruit, which typically splits along two seams. Vigna species produce the distinctive fruits that give legumes their name.
Mung bean : Mung bean is an Asian legume grown for edible seeds, sprouts, and noodles. It is a widely cultivated Vigna crop with uses distinct from cowpea.
Domestication of mung bean : Mung bean domestication is the development of a cultivated crop from wild Asian Vigna radiata. It traces the agricultural origins of a major Asian Vigna.
Common bean : The common bean is Phaseolus vulgaris, a domesticated legume native to the Americas. Its name invites comparison, but it belongs to a different genus.
Papilionoid legumes : Papilionoid legumes are a major Fabaceae lineage, usually recognized by their butterfly-shaped flowers. Vigna sits within this lineage of legumes.
Adzuki bean : Adzuki bean is an East Asian legume whose small red seeds are commonly used in sweet foods. It is another domesticated Vigna species with a major regional food tradition.
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