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Mucuna Pruriens Seed extract is a tropical legume native to Africa and tropical Asia and widely naturalized and cultivated.
Mucuna Pruriens Seed extract's English common names include monkey tamarind, velvet bean, Bengal velvet bean, Florida velvet bean, Mauritius velvet bean, Yokohama velvet bean, cowage, cowitch, lacuna bean, and Lyon bean.
The Tshivenda/Venda language name is Vhulada.
CAS: 90064-10-1
EINECS: 290-071-6
Synonyms
Mucuna Pruriens Powder Extract;Mucuna pruriens, ext.;Cowhageextract;mucuna pruriens seed extract;Lathyrus pubescens bean powder extract
The plant is notorious for the extreme itchiness Mucuna Pruriens Seed extract produces on contact, particularly with the young foliage and the seed pods.
Mucuna Pruriens Seed extract also produces many medium-sized red swollen bumps along with the itching.
Mucuna Pruriens Seed extract has agricultural and horticultural value and is used in herbalism.
Mucuna Pruriens Seed extract is an annual climbing shrub with long vines that can reach over 15 metres (50 feet) in length.
When the plant is young, Mucuna Pruriens Seed extract is almost completely covered with fuzzy hairs, but when older, Mucuna Pruriens Seed extract is almost completely free of hairs.
The leaves are tripinnate, ovate, reverse ovate, rhombus-shaped or widely ovate.
The sides of the leaves are often heavily grooved and the tips are pointy.
In young specimens, both sides of the leaves have hairs.
The stems of the leaflets are 2–3 millimetres (1⁄16–1⁄8 inch) long.
Additional adjacent leaves are present and are about 5 mm (1⁄4 in) long.
The flower heads take the form of axially arrayed panicles.
They are 15–32 centimetres (6–13 in) long and have two or three, or many flowers, which can be white, lavender, or purple.
The accompanying leaves are about 12.5 mm (1⁄2 in) long; the flower stand axes are from 2.5–5 mm (1⁄8–3⁄16 in).
The bell is 7.5–9 mm (5⁄16–3⁄8 in) long and silky.
The sepals are longer or of the same length as the shuttles.
The crown is purplish or white. The flag is 1.5 mm (1⁄16 in) long.
The wings are 2.5–3.8 cm (1–1+1⁄2 in) long.
In the fruit-ripening stage, a 4–13 cm (2–5 in) long, 1–2 cm (3⁄8–3⁄4 in) wide, unwinged, leguminous fruit develops.
There is a ridge along Mucuna Pruriens Seed extract's length and the husk is covered in loose, orange hairs that cause a severe itch if they contact skin.
The pods carry up to seven seeds, which are shiny black or brown drift seeds.
They are flattened uniform ellipsoids, 1–1.9 cm (3⁄8–3⁄4 in) long, .8–1.3 cm (3⁄8–1⁄2 in) wide and 4–6.5 cm (2–3 in) thick.
The hilum, the base of the funiculus (connection between placenta and plant seeds) is a surrounded by a significant arillus (fleshy seed shell).
The dry weight of the seeds is 55–85 grams (2–3 ounces)/100 seeds.
Uses
In many parts of the world, Mucuna Pruriens Seed extract is used as an important forage, fallow and green manure crop.
Since the plant is a legume, it fixes nitrogen and fertilizes soil.
In Indonesia, particularly Java, the beans are eaten and widely known as 'Benguk'.
The beans can also be fermented to form a food similar to tempeh and known as Benguk tempe or 'tempe Benguk'.
Mucuna Pruriens Seed extract is a widespread fodder plant in the tropics.
To that end, the whole plant is fed to animals as silage, dried hay or dried seeds.
Mucuna Pruriens Seed extract silage contains 11–23% crude protein, 35–40% crude fiber, and the dried beans 20–35% crude protein.
Mucuna Pruriens Seed extract also has use in the countries of Benin and Vietnam as a biological control for problematic Imperata cylindrica grass.
Mucuna Pruriens Seed extract is said to not be invasive outside its cultivated area.
However, Mucuna Pruriens Seed extract is invasive within conservation areas of South Florida, where it frequently invades disturbed land and rockland hammock edge habitats.
Cooked fresh shoots or beans can also be eaten.
The plant contains relatively high (3–7% dry weight) levels of l-DOPA, which some people are sensitive to; Mucuna Pruriens Seed extract can cause nausea, vomiting, cramping, arrhythmias, and hypotension.
Up to 88% of the l-DOPA can be extracted from Mucuna Pruriens Seed extract by boiling and soaking for approximately 48 hours.
The efficiency of the process can be slightly improved by using approximately 0.25–0.50% sodium bicarbonate.
