Winged Bean
Winged bean
Scientific name: Psophocarpus tetragonolobus
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