• Family : FABACEAE
  (Pea Or Bean Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : PALASH FAMILY (पलाश फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : LEGUMINOSAE
• Subfamily : Faboideae
• Basionym : Dolichos pruriens L.
• Synonym(s) : Mucuna minima Haines; Mucuna prurita (L.) Hook.; Mucuna prurita Hook.; Mucuna nivea (Roxb.) DC.
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC.
• Common name : Velvet Bean, Common Cow Itch, Cowhage
• Vernacular name : Kinvach, Kaunch (Hindi); Poonaikaali, Naikurni (Tamil); Dulagondi, Pilliadugu (Telugu); Kaicho, Baidonko, Baibidong (Oria); Khaj Kuiri (Marathi); Chorivalli, Naikurana (Malayalam)
• Habit : Liana
• Habitat : In secondary forests at lower altitudes and in plains
• Comments / notes : Occasional
• Flower, Fruit : September-March
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Anantapur district, Chittoor district, Kadapa district, East Godavari district, Guntur district, Krishna district, Kurnool district, Nellore district, Prakasam district, Srikakulam district, Vishakapatnam district, Vizianagaram district, West Godavari district
  • Telangana : Nalgonda district, Khammam district, Mehboobnagar district
  • Karnataka : Ballari district, Chamarajanagar district, Kolar district
  • Kerala : Kasaragod district, Kannur district, Wayanad district, Kozhikode district, Malappuram district, Palakkad district, Thrissur district, Kottayam district, Alappuzha district, Pathanamthitta district
  • Maharashtra : Akola district
  • Odisha : Angul district, Balasore district, Bargarh district, Bolangir district, Boudh district, Cuttack district, Deogarh district, Dhenkanal district, Gajapati district, Ganjam district, Kalhandi district, Kandhamal district, Kendrapara district, Keonjhar district, Khurda district, Koraput district, Malkangiri district, Mayurbhanj district, Puri district, Rayagada district,Sambalpur district, Sundergarh district
  • Tamil Nadu : Coimbatore district, Dindigul district, Dharmapuri district, Kanchipuram (Changalpattu-CGP) district, Karur district, Krishnagiri district, Madurai district, Namakkal district, Pudukkottai district, Sivaganga district, Salem district, Tiruchirapalli district, Tiruvannamalai district, Villipuram district, Vellore district
• Native : India
• World Distribution : Himalayas, India, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : J.L.Ellis, 1987- Flora of Nallamalais Vol. 1; H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1994- Flora of Orissa Vol. 1; Pullaiah et al., 2001 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 2; R. S. Rao et al., 1986 - Flora of West Godavari District; R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District; H. O. Saxena and M. Brahmam, 1989 - The Flora of Similipahar (Similipal), Orissa; Matthew, K.M., Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI; Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1983). Flora of Tamil Nadu, India vol. 1.; Hook.f. 1876. Flora of British India vol. 2. pp. 187; Kamble & Pradhan, 1988. Flora of Akola District, Maharashtra. Botanical Survey of India.
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Mucuna pruriens var. pruriens. Downloaded on 13 May 2024.

Botanical Description

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