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Mucuna

{{Short description|Genus of plants}}

{{Automatic taxobox

|image = Mucuna holtonii 2.jpg

|image_caption = Mucuna holtonii flowers

|display_parents = 2

|taxon = Mucuna

|authority = Adans.{{R|POWO|GBIF}}

|type_species = Mucuna urens

|type_species_authority = (L.) Medik.

|subdivision_ranks = Species

|subdivision = About 110 – see text

|synonyms =

Homotypic:

Heterotypic:

  • Cacuvallum {{small|Medik.}}
  • Carpopogon {{small|Roxb. ex Spreng.}}
  • Citta {{small|Lour.}}
  • Labradia {{small|Swediaur}}
  • Macranthus {{small|Lour.}}
  • Macroceratides {{small|Raddi}}
  • Negretia {{small|Ruiz & Pav.}}
  • Pillera {{small|Endl.}}
  • Stizolobium {{small|P.Browne nom. rej.}}
  • Zoophthalmum {{small|P.Browne}}

| synonyms_ref =

}}

Mucuna is a genus of around 110 accepted species of vines and shrubs of the family Fabaceae: tribe Phaseoleae, typically found in tropical and subtropical forests in the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa, southern, southeastern, and eastern Asia, New Guinea, Australia, and the Pacific Islands.

The leaves are trifoliolate, alternate, or spiraled, and the flowers are pea-like but larger, with distinctive curved petals, and occurring in racemes. Like other legumes, Mucuna plants bear pods. They are generally bat-pollinated and produce seeds that are buoyant sea-beans. These have a characteristic three-layered appearance, appearing like the eyes of a large mammal in some species and like a hamburger in others (most notably M. sloanei) and giving rise to common names like deer-eye beans, donkey-eye beans, ox-eye beans, or hamburger seed.

The name of the genus is derived from mucunã, a Tupi–Guarani word for these species.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kaN-hLL-3qEC |title=CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names |volume=3 M-Q |first=Umberto |last=Quattrocchi |publisher=CRC Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-8493-2677-6 |page=1738}}

Ecology

Some Mucuna species are used as food plants by caterpillars of Lepidoptera. These include Morpho butterflies and the two-barred flasher (Astraptes fulgerator), which is sometimes found on M. holtonii and perhaps others. The plant pathogenic fungus Mycosphaerella mucunae is named for being first discovered on Mucuna.

Uses

The pods of some species are covered in coarse hairs that contain the proteolytic enzyme mucunain and cause itchy blisters when they come in contact with skin; specific epithets such as pruriens (Latin: "itching") or urens (Latinized Ancient Greek: "stinging like a nettle") refer to this. Other parts of the plant have medicinal properties. The plants or their extracts are sold in herbalism against a range of conditions, such as urinary tract, neurological, and menstruation disorders, constipation, edema, fevers, tuberculosis, and helminthiases such as elephantiasis.Oudhia (2002) In an experiment to test if M.pruriens might have an effect on the symptoms of Parkinson's disease, Katzenschlager et al. found that a seed powder had a comparable, if not more favourable, effect as commercial formulations of L-dopa, although the trial only consisted of four people per test group.Katzenschlager et al. (2004)

M. pruriens was found to increase phosphorus availability after application of rock phosphate in one Nigerian experiment.Vanlauwe et al. (2000) M. pruriens was used in Native American milpa agriculture.{{Citation needed|date=December 2007}}

Mucuna seeds contain a large number of antinutritional compounds. The most important is L-dopa, which the digestive system of most animals confuses with the amino acid tyrosine, causing the production of defective proteins. Other antinutrients are tannins, lectins, phytic acid, cyanogenic glycosides, and trypsin and amylase inhibitors, although all these can be removed by long cooking.{{cite journal |title=Indolealkylamines in Mucuna species |journal=Tropical and Subtropical Agroecosystems |volume=1 |issue=2–3 |date=April 2003 |pages=295–307 |last=Szabo |first=N. J. |url=https://catbull.com/alamut/Bibliothek/93911288031.pdf}} M. pruriens may also contain chemicals such as serotonin, 5-HTP, nicotine, and the hallucinogenic tryptamines 5-MeO-DMT, bufotenine and dimethyltryptamine,Erowid (2002): [http://www.erowid.org/plants/mucuna_pruriens/ Mucuna pruriens]. Created 2002-APR-22. Retrieved 2007-DEC-17{{Verify source|date=December 2007}} Mucuna is not traditionally consumed as a food crop, but some preliminary experiments have shown that if the antinutrients are removed or at least brought down to safe level, the beans can be fed to livestock or people. The L-dopa content is the most important and difficult toxin to get rid of. The seeds must be extensively processed before they can be safely eaten. Diallo & Berhe found the best method was to crack open the seeds and soak them in constantly running fresh water such as under an open faucet for 36 hours, or to put them in a bag and leave in a flowing river for 72 hours, before cooking them for over an hour. Over a thousand people in the Republic of Guinea were fed a meal of Mucuna (mixed with many other ingredients) with no obvious ill effects.Diallo & Berhe (2003)

Species

File:Dolichos urens Ypey25.jpg illustration by Adolphus Ypey, 1813]]

File:Mucuna urens.jpg habit]]

File:Hamburger Seed.jpg seed, sometimes called hamburger bean]]

File:Mucuna urens MHNT.BOT.2009.16.6.jpg]]

{{As of|2025|2}}, Plants of the World Online accepts the following 112 species:{{R|POWO}}

{{div col|colwidth=20em}}

{{div col end}}

=Formerly placed here=

  • Canavalia mattogrossensis (Barb. Rodr.) Malme (as M. mattegrossensis Barb. Rodr.)
  • Psophocarpus scandens (Endl.) Verdc. (as M. comorensis Vatke){{cite web |url=http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?7847 |title=GRIN Species Records of Mucuna|work=Germplasm Resources Information Network |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |access-date=2011-02-23}}

Gallery

=Flowers=

File:Mucuna nigricans (9212686208).jpg|Mucuna nigricans

File:Mucuna birdwoodiana.jpg|Mucuna birdwoodiana

File:Mucuna-bennettii-SF24230-01.jpg|Mucuna bennettii

File:Mucuna coriacea subsp. irritans 1DS-II 1-7767.jpg|Mucuna coriacea

File:大果油麻藤 Mucuna macrocarpa -香港禮賓府 Hong Kong Government House- (9252393885).jpg|Mucuna macrocarpa

=Seed pods=

File:Mucuna sanjappae fruit.jpg|Mucuna sanjappae

File:Mucuna poggei MS 3655.jpg|Mucuna poggei

File:Mucuna-gigantea-SF23215-02.jpg|Mucuna gigantea

File:Mucuna coriacea subsp. irritans 1DS-II 1-7770.jpg|Mucuna coriacea

File:Fruits of Mucuna membranacea.jpg|Mucuna membranacea

References

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite web |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:331783-2 |title=Mucuna Adans. |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |year=2025 |access-date=21 February 2025}}

{{cite web |url=https://www.gbif.org/species/2951351 |title=Mucuna Adans. |website=Global Biodiversity Information Facility |year=2025 |access-date=21 February 2025}}

}}

Further reading

  • {{cite journal | last1 = Diallo | first1 = O.K. | last2 = Berhe | first2 = T. | year = 2003 | title = Processing the Mucuna for Human Food in the Republic of Guinea | url = http://www.uady.mx/~veterina/publicaciones/journal/2002-2-3/Diallo%20and%20Berhe-b.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070926223157/http://www.uady.mx/~veterina/publicaciones/journal/2002-2-3/Diallo%20and%20Berhe-b.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2007-09-26 | journal = Tropical and Subtropical Agroecosystems | volume = 1 | issue = 2/3| pages = 193–196 }}
  • International Legume Database & Information Service (ILDIS) (2005): [http://www.ildis.org/ Genus Mucuna]. Version 10.01, November 2005. Retrieved 2007-DEC-17.
  • {{cite journal | last1 = Katzenschlager | first1 = R. | last2 = Evans | first2 = A. | last3 = Manson | first3 = A. | last4 = Patsalos | first4 = P.N. | last5 = Ratnaraj | first5 = N. | last6 = Watt | first6 = H. | last7 = Timmermann | first7 = L. | last8 = van der Giessen | first8 = R. | last9 = Lees | first9 = A.J. | year = 2004 | title = Mucuna pruriens in Parkinson's disease: a double blind clinical and pharmacological study | journal = Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry | volume = 75 | issue = 12| pages = 1672–1677 | doi = 10.1136/jnnp.2003.028761 | pmid = 15548480 | pmc = 1738871 }}
  • Oudhia, Pankaj (2002): [http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/CropFactSheets/mucuna.html Kapikachu or Cowhage (Mucuna pruriens) Crop Fact Sheet]. Version of 5-9-2002. Retrieved 2007-DEC-17.
  • {{cite journal | last1 = Vanlauwe | first1 = B.O. | year = 2000| title = Nwoke, C.; Diels, J.; Sanginga, N.; Carsky, R.J.; Deckers, J. & Merckx, R. (2000) Utilization of rock phosphate by crops on a representative toposequence in the Northern Guinea savanna zone of Nigeria: response by Mucuna pruriens, Lablab purpureus and maize | journal = Soil Biology and Biochemistry | volume = 32 | issue = 14| pages = 2063–2077 | doi = 10.1016/S0038-0717(00)00149-8 }}

External links

  • {{Commons category-inline}}
  • {{Wikispecies-inline}}
  • [http://waynesword.palomar.edu/mucuna.htm Bat-Pollinated Mucuna Flowers – The Source Of Tropical Sea Beans] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061210052704/http://waynesword.palomar.edu/mucuna.htm |date=2006-12-10 }}
  • {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Mucuna|volume=18|page=955}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q2574724}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Medicinal plants

Category:Fabaceae genera

Category:Pantropical flora