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Herbs & Plants

Vigna angularis

Botanical Name: Vigna angularis
Family: Fabaceae
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Fabales
Genus: Vigna
Species: V. angularis

Synonyms:
*Azukia angularis (Willd.) Ohwi.
*Dolichos angularis Willd.
*Phaseolus angularis (Willd.)

Common Names: Adzuki bean, Azuki, Aduki bean, Red bean, or Red mung bean

Habitat: Vigna angularis is native to E. Asia and the Himalayas, – probably originated in Japan or southern China.

Description:
Vigna angularis is an annual vine growing. It grows usually about 30-90 cm in height at a fast rate. …….CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES

Roots:
The adzuki bean has a taproot type of root system that can reach a depth of 40–50 cm from the point of seed germination.

Leaves:
The leaves of the adzuki bean are trifoliate, pinnate and arranged alternately along the stem on a long petiole. Leaflets are ovate and about 5–10 cm long and 5–8 cm wide.

Flowers:
Adzuki flowers are papilionaceous and bright yellow. The inflorescence is an axillary false raceme consisting of six to ten (two to twenty) flowers.

Fruits:
Adzuki pods are smooth, cylindrical and thin-walled. The colour of the pods is green turning white to grey as they mature. The size is between 5–13 cm x 0.5 cm with 2 to 14 seeds per pod. Pod shatter during seed ripening and harvesting might be a difficulty under certain conditions.

Seeds:
The seeds are smooth and subcylindric with a length of 5.0-9.1 mm, width of 4.0-6.3 mm, thickness of 4.1-6.0 mm. The thousand kernel weight is between 50 and 200 g. There are many different seed colours from maroon to blue-black mottled with straw

Cultivation:
Adzuki bean is a plant of the subtropics, and is widely cultivated from the temperate zone to higher elevations in the tropics, where it is can be grown at elevations from 420 – 1,500 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 15 – 30°c, but can tolerate 5 – 36°c. The plant cannot tolerate frost. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 900 – 1,300mm, but tolerates 530 – 1,800mm. It is generally seen as a short-day plant, requiring a day length of 12 hours or less to initiate flowering and fruiting, though cultivars can vary in their response to day length. Requires a sunny position. Succeeds in a wide range of well-drained soils. Prefers a pH in the range 5.5 – 6.5, tolerating 5 – 7.5. Some cultivars are fairly drought tolerant. The plant can commence cropping within 60 – 190 days from seed. Average seed yields range from 1 – 2.5 tonnes per hectare. In Taiwan yields of 1,450 kilos are common, in Japan 1,900 kilos, in Kenya 500 – 600 kilos and in New Zealand 1,340 – 2,240 kilos. There are many named varieties. This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria, these bacteria form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby. When removing plant remains at the end of the growing season, it is best to only remove the aerial parts of the plant, leaving the roots in the ground to decay and release their nitrogen. Bloom Color: Bright Yellow. Spacing: 3-6 in.

Edible Uses:
Mature seed – cooked. The dried bean is boiled and used in a wide variety of dishes. The beans can also be popped in much the same way as popcorn. The dried seeds can be ground into a meal and used in soups, cakes or confections. The seeds are often sprouted and then eaten either raw or cooked. The cylindrical pods can be 6 – 12cm long, containing 6 – 14 seeds. Tender young pods are cooked as a vegetable. The seedpods are up to 10cm long. The roasted seed has been used as a coffee substitute.

Adzuki bean is commonly sweetened before eating. It is eaten sprouted or boiled. It is also used in many Chinese dishes and as a filling in Japanese sweets. Tender young pods are cooked as a vegetable. Roasted seeds are used as a substitute for coffee.

Medicinal Uses:
The beans are used to treat diseases like kidney trouble, constipation, abscesses, certain tumours, threatened miscarriage, retained placenta and non-secretion of milk. The seed sprouts are used to treat threatened abortion caused by injury. The leaves are said to lower fevers.

Other Uses: A flour made from the beans is used in making shampoos and facial creams. V. angularis is also grown as a green manure and for soil erosion control.

Disclaimer : The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplement, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adzuki_bean
https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Vigna+angularis

Categories
Herbs & Plants

Vigna angularis

Botanical Name: Vigna angularis
Family: Fabaceae
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Fabales
Genus: Vigna
Species:V. angularis

Synonyms: Azukia angularis (Willd.) Ohwi. Dolichos angularis Willd. Phaseolus angularis (Willd.) W.Wight Phase

Common Names: Adzuki Bean, Red Mung Bean

Habitat: Vigna angularis is native to E. Asia – probably originated in Japan or southern China, but long cultivated and no longer known in

Description: Vigna angularis is an annual vine. It grows usually about 30-90 cm in height. The root system is a taproot that can reach a depth of 40-50 cm. The leaves are trifoliate, pinnate, and arranged alternately along the stem on a long petiole. The flowers are bright yellow papilionaceous arranged in a cluster of 6-10. The fruits are smooth, cylindrical, and thin-walled pods.

Cultivation:
Adzuki bean is a plant of the subtropics, and is widely cultivated from the temperate zone to higher elevations in the tropics, where it is can be grown at elevations from 420 – 1,500 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 15 – 30°c, but can tolerate 5 – 36°c. The plant cannot tolerate frost. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 900 – 1,300mm, but tolerates 530 – 1,800mm. It is generally seen as a short-day plant, requiring a day length of 12 hours or less to initiate flowering and fruiting, though cultivars can vary in their response to day length. Requires a sunny position. Succeeds in a wide range of well-drained soils. Prefers a pH in the range 5.5 – 6.5, tolerating 5 – 7.5. Some cultivars are fairly drought tolerant. The plant can commence cropping within 60 – 190 days from seed. Average seed yields range from 1 – 2.5 tonnes per hectare. In Taiwan yields of 1,450 kilos are common, in Japan 1,900 kilos, in Kenya 500 – 600 kilos and in New Zealand 1,340 – 2,240 kilos. There are many named varieties. This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria, these bacteria form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby. When removing plant remains at the end of the growing season, it is best to only remove the aerial parts of the plant, leaving the roots in the ground to decay and release their nitrogen. Bloom Color: Bright Yellow. Spacing: 3-6 in.

Propagation: Through seeds.

Edible Uses:
Mature seed – cooked. The dried bean is boiled and used in a wide variety of dishes. The beans can also be popped in much the same way as popcorn. The dried seeds can be ground into a meal and used in soups, cakes or confections. The seeds are often sprouted and then eaten either raw or cooked. The cylindrical pods can be 6 – 12cm long, containing 6 – 14 seeds. Tender young pods are cooked as a vegetable. The seedpods are up to 10cm long. The roasted seed has been used as a coffee substitute.

Adzuki bean is commonly sweetened before eating. It is eaten sprouted or boiled. It is also used in many Chinese dishes and as a filling in Japanese sweets. Tender young pods are cooked as a vegetable. Roasted seeds are used as a substitute for coffee.

Medicinal Uses:
The beans are used to treat diseases like kidney trouble, constipation, abscesses, certain tumours, threatened miscarriage, retained placenta and non-secretion of milk. The seed sprouts are used to treat threatened abortion caused by injury. The leaves are said to lower fevers.

Other Uses:
Agroforestry Uses: The plant can be grown as a green manure and to prevent soil erosion. Other Uses A flour made from the beans is used in making shampoos and facial creams.

Disclaimer : The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplement, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adzuki_bean
https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Vigna+angularis

Categories
Herbs & Plants

Vicia caroliniana

Botanical Name: Vicia caroliniana
Family: Fabaceae
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Fabales
Tribe: Fabeae
Genus: Vicia
Species: V. caroliniana

Synonyms:
*Vicia hugeri Small
*Cracca caroliniana (Walter) Alefeld
*Vicia parviflora Michaux

Common Names: Carolina vetch,Carolina wood vetch, Pale vetch, wood vetch

Habitat:Vicia caroliniana is native to the United States, V. caroliniana is now found throughout the eastern half of the country, from Texas east to Florida and north to New York and Minnesota. It is also found in Ontario, Canada.xIt grows on acid soils on rocky slopes, rocky woods, ridges, streambanks.

Descriptioon:
Vicia caroliniana is a perennial, herbaceous vine. The sparsely pubescent to glabrous stems climb or sprawl to a length of 1.5m. The alternate, finely pubescent compound leaves usually have 5-9 pairs of elliptic-oblong or oblong-lanceolate leaflets per leaf. The leaflets are approximately 0.8-2cm long, rounded and mucronate, with approximately 5-7 lateral veins on each side. The apical-most petiolule is modified at its tip as a simple or branched tendril. Lanceolate or lanceolate-sagittate stipules are present and entire. The leaves of Vicia caroliniana are reported to remain green through the winter in central and southern Ohio. Vicia caroliniana is a root-nodule forming legume (nitrogen fixing) that is part of a large group of legumes that are capable of cross-inoculating when grown together.

CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES

Climbing Mechanism: Tendrils at the leaf tip.

Flower: The racemes are axillary, have 7-20 flowers each, and are often shorter than the subtending leaves. The flowers are often borne on one side of the peduncle. The regular or almost regular calyx is villous, with a tube 1.8-2.5mm long and nearly equal triangular calyx lobes 0.5-1mm long. The corolla is pale purple or white, the tip of the keel petal blue, with the banner petal 8-12mm long. The styles are pubescent or villous at the apex, and the 10 stamens are diadelphous (in a group of 9 plus a single 10th stamen) and “terminate obliquely”. The anthers are yellow-orange.

Flowering Time: April – July

Polination: The flowers are pollinated by Insects.

Fruit Type and Description: A narrow stipitate legume, 1.5-3cm long, with 5-8 seeds/fruit

Seeds: The compressed or subglobose seed is 3-4mm in diameter.

Cultivation:
An attractive perennial, herbaceous vine generally sprawling, occasionally climbing stems with tendrillate leaf tips. Light: Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day) to partial shade (direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours). There is some suggestion that it can take deep shade but we have been unable to confirm this. Soil Drainage: moist and well-drained, occasionally Dry. Flower Color: Pink, White. Flower Bloom Time: Spring. Flower Description: Light pinkish white, pea-like flowers appear in spring. This plant has an extreme flammability rating. For polyculture design as well as the above-ground architecture (form – tree, shrub etc. and size shown above) information on the habit and root pattern is also useful and given here if available. Herbaceous. Growth habit is a single or multiple shooting vine from a crown.

Propagation: Through seeds.

Medicinal Uses:
In the US, the Cherokee use Carolina wood vetch for a variety of medicinal purposes. It is used for back pains, local pains, to toughen muscles, for muscular cramps, twitching and is rubbed on stomach cramps. They also use a compound for rheumatism, for an affliction called “blacks”, and it is taken for wind before a ball game (Hamel and Chiltoskey 1975 Cherokee Plants and Their Uses). An infusion is used for muscle pain, in that it is rubbed on scratches made over the location of the pain. An infusion is also taken as an emetic. It is also used internally with Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium ssp. obtusifolium for rheumatism.

Other Uses:
Invertebrates shelter: beneficial for insects and other arthropods. Nectary: provides nectar or pollen for beneficial insects [1-2]. Host plant for Northern Cloudywing butterfly. Seeds may be eaten by songbirds. Nitrogen Fixer. Dynamic accumulator.

Disclaimer : The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplement, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resours:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicia_caroliniana
https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Vicia+caroliniana
http://climbers.lsa.umich.edu/?p=312

Categories
Herbs & Plants

Vicia caroliniana

Botanical Name: Vicia caroliniana
Family: Fabaceae
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Fabales
Tribe: Fabeae
Genus: Vicia
Species: V. caroliniana

Synonyms:
*Vicia hugeri Small
*Cracca caroliniana (Walter) Alefeld
*Vicia parviflora Michaux

Common Names: Carolina vetch, or Carolina wood vetch

Other Names: Wood Vetch, Carolina Vetch

Habitat: Vicia caroliniana is native to the United States, V. caroliniana is now found throughout the eastern half of the country, from Texas east to Florida and north to New York and Minnesota. It is also found in Ontario, Canada. It grows on acid soils on rocky slopes, rocky woods, ridges, streambanks.

Description: Vicia caroliniana perennial, herbaceous vine growing to 0.6 m (2ft) by 0.6 m (2ft in) at a medium rate. The sparsely pubescent to glabrous stems climb. The alternate, finely pubescent compound leaves usually have 5-9 pairs of elliptic-oblong or oblong-lanceolate leaflets per leaf. The leaflets are approximately 0.8-2cm long, rounded and mucronate, with approximately 5-7 lateral veins on each side. The apical-most petiolule is modified at its tip as a simple or branched tendril. Lanceolate or lanceolate-sagittate stipules are present and entire. The leaves of Vicia caroliniana are reported to remain green through the winter in central and southern Ohio. Vicia caroliniana is a root-nodule forming legume (nitrogen fixing) that is part of a large group of legumes that are capable of cross-inoculating when grown together.

Leaf:
The racemes are axillary, have 7-20 flowers each, and are often shorter than the subtending leaves. The flowers are often borne on one side of the peduncle. The regular or almost regular calyx is villous, with a tube 1.8-2.5mm long and nearly equal triangular calyx lobes 0.5-1mm long. The corolla is pale purple or white, the tip of the keel petal blue, with the banner petal 8-12mm long. The styles are pubescent or villous at the apex, and the 10 stamens are diadelphous (in a group of 9 plus a single 10th stamen) and “terminate obliquely”. The anthers are yellow-orange.

Flower:
Flowering Time: April – July .

Pollinator: Nothing was found about pollination of the species, however the specialized papilionaceous corolla typical of the subfamily suggests insect or specifically bee pollination. The Appalachian Grizzled Skipper, an endangered lepidopteran in New Jersey, has been reported to feed on the nectar of V. caroliniana

Fruits: A narrow stipitate legume, 1.5-3cm long, with 5-8 seeds/fruit.

Seed : The compressed or subglobose seed is 3-4mm in diameter. The attachment scar, found at the margin of the seed, extends “three-fourths around the circumference”.

CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES

Cultivation:
An attractive perennial, herbaceous vine generally sprawling, occasionally climbing stems with tendrillate leaf tips. Light: Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day) to partial shade (direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours). There is some suggestion that it can take deep shade but we have been unable to confirm this. Soil Drainage: moist and well-drained, occasionally Dry. Flower Color: Pink, White. Flower Bloom Time: Spring. Flower Description: Light pinkish white, pea-like flowers appear in spring. This plant has an extreme flammability rating. For polyculture design as well as the above-ground architecture (form – tree, shrub etc. and size shown above) information on the habit and root pattern is also useful and given here if available. Herbaceous. Growth habit is a single or multiple shooting vine from a crown.

Medicinal Uses:
In the US, the Cherokee use Carolina wood vetch for a variety of medicinal purposes. It is used for back pains, local pains, to toughen muscles, for muscular cramps, twitching and is rubbed on stomach cramps. They also use a compound for rheumatism, for an affliction called “blacks”, and it is taken for wind before a ball game (Hamel and Chiltoskey 1975 Cherokee Plants and Their Uses). An infusion is used for muscle pain, in that it is rubbed on scratches made over the location of the pain. An infusion is also taken as an emetic. It is also used internally with Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium ssp. obtusifolium for rheumatism.

Other Uses:
Invertebrates shelter: beneficial for insects and other arthropods. Nectary: provides nectar or pollen for beneficial insects [1-2]. Host plant for Northern Cloudywing butterfly. Seeds may be eaten by songbirds. Nitrogen Fixer. Dynamic accumulator.

Disclaimer : The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplement, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicia_caroliniana
http://climbers.lsa.umich.edu/?p=312
https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Vicia+caroliniana

Categories
Herbs & Plants

Veronicastrum sibiricum

Botanical Name: Veronicastrum sibiricum
Family: Plantaginaceae
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Lamiales
Genus: Veronicastrum
Species: V. sibiricum

Common Names: Blackroot, Culver’s root, Siberian culver’s root, Siberian blackroot

Habitat: Veronicastrum sibiricum is native to E. Asia – China, Japan, Korea, Siberia.It grows on the grassy areas in mountains and lowlands. Trailsides, grassy slopes and thickets at elevatins below 2500 metres in northern China.

Description:
Veronicastrum sibiricum is an erect, herbaceous perennial plant with whorls of oblong to broadly lance-shaped, pointed, coarsely-toothed, dark green leaves and slender, dense. This species has multiple 5- to 7-foot-tall, tapering spikes of pinkish-lavender flowers from summer to fall. They look like elegant, living candelabras and add a vertical accent to the back of a mixed border or wild garden. The species is hermaphrodite (has both male and female organs).

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Cultivation:
Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It prefers moist soil. Easily grown in a moderately fertile moisture retentive well drained soil. Prefers cool summers. Prefers a sunny position.

Propagation:
Seed – sow autumn in a cold frame. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in the summer. If you have sufficient quantity the seed can be sown outdoors in situ in the autumn or the spring. Division in autumn or spring. Larger divisions can be planted out direct into their permanent positions. We have found that it is best to pot up smaller divisions and grow them on in light shade in a greenhouse or cold frame until they are growing away well. Plant them out in the summer or the following spring.

Medicinal Uses: The root is antimicrobial and hepatic. It is used in Korea in the treatment of the common cold and as a liver tonic.

Disclaimer : The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplement, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronicastrum_sibiricum
https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Veronicastrum+sibiricum
https://www.shootgardening.co.uk/plant/veronicastrum-sibiricum

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