Lablab purpureus (L.) Sweet (Fabaceae)

Scientific name
Lablab purpureus (L.) Sweet
Family name
Fabaceae (Syn. Leguminosae)
Common name
Hyacinth dolichos (English); fujimame (Japanese)
Local name
Thua paep
Perennial climber, 1.5–3 m high. Leaves alternate, compound, 5–7 cm long with petiole; leaflets 3, broadly ovate, acuminate, 5–8 × 3.5–6 cm. Inflorescence of racemes; 2–4 papilionaceous flowers at each node, flower bisexual; peduncle 4–23 cm long; often compressed, glabrescent; rachis 2–24 cm long; flowers arising 1–5 together from tubercles on rachis; pedicels short, square, sparsely pubescent. Flowers purple, white, pink or red. Stamens 10, diadelphous. Ovary superior, 1-loculed. Pod straight or curved, flat, pubescent or glabrous, 4–8 × 2 cm. Seeds 4–5, elliptic, 8 × 5–6 mm, violet-brown.
Traditional medicinal use
Functionality
Functional constituents
Prefers loamy, well-drained soil and full sun, but grown as an annual under highly variable conditions. Many cultivars have been selected by indigenous peoples of Thailand; these have occasionally escaped and become naturalised as weeds in wastelands and abandoned land. Propagated by seed sowing.
Young pods are steamed or boiled and served with chili or added to curries.
Legumes
Flowers
Legumes