Winged Bean

Winged bean

Scientific name: Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (L.) DC.

English name: Winged bean

Local name: ‘Kamranga Shim’, ‘Korola Shim’

Taxonomic position According to Cronquist (1981)

Kingdom         : Plantae
Division           : Magnoliophyta
Class                :Magnoliopsida

Subclass          : Rosidae

Order               : Fabales
Family             : Fabacaeae

Genus              : Psophocarpus

Species            : P. tetragonolobus

Origin and Distribution: It is originated in New Guinea and South East Asia, distributed to North East India, Myanmar, and Malaysia

Botanical Description of Winged Bean

Habit: A twining perennial herb

Root: Tap root modified into tuber, large

Stem: Weak, glabrous

Leaf: Compound, trifoliate

Inflorescence: Axillary raceme

Flower: Complete, hermaphrodite, zygomorphic, papilionaceous

Clayx: Sepal 5,

Corolla: papilinaceous composed three types of petal viz. standard, wing and keel, aestivation vexillary.

Androecium: Stamen 10, monadelphous.

Gynoecium: Carpel one, ovary superior, placentation marginal.

Fruit: a pod, linear oblong

Floral Formula:

Floral Diagram:

Chromosome number: 2n=18, 26 (Kumar and Subramaniam, 1986)

Economic Importance

• Used as vegetable
• Edible oil is extracted from the seeds
• Tuber may be eaten as raw