Vigna
(named after Dominic Vigni, Professor at Padua, who wrote a commentary on Theophrastus, in 1625). SYNS. Callicysthus, Scytalis. ORD. Leguminosae. A genus embracing about thirty species of stove, greenhouse, or hardy, twining or prostrate herbs, inhabiting the warmer regions of the globe. Flowers yellowish or rarely purplish, shortly fasciculate-racemose at the apex of an axillary peduncle; two upper calyx teeth or lobes connate or distinct; corolla with two ear-like appendages; standard orbicular; wings falcate-obovate; bracts and bracteoles small, caducous. Pods linear, straight or scarcely incurved. Leaves pinnately trifoliolate, stipellate. V. sinensis is largely cultivated in the East; the Chinese cook and eat the pods as we do kidney beans. Seeds of the under-mentioned species may be sown in any fairly good soil.
V. Burchellii (Burchell's). fl. purple, on peduncles 3in. to 5in. long, umbellate; calyx deeply four-cleft; wings with an earshaped appendage to the claw. summer. l. 1in. to 2 1/2in. long, on petioles 1/4in. to 1/2in. long; leaflets ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, rigid, bristly-mucronate, glabrous. Stems woody, diffuse, the branches rigid and sub-erect. Cape of Good Hope, 1816. Greenhouse. SYN. Otoptera Burchellii.
V. Catiang (Catiang). fl. yellow or reddish; corolla twice the length of the calyx, which is less than 1/2in. long; racemes few-flowered, long-peduncled. July and August. fr., pods 1ft. to 2ft. long, less than 1/2in. broad, edible. l., leaflets membranous, ovate-rhomboid, entire or slightly lobed. East Indies, &c., 1776. Hardy, low and sub-erect, or tall and twining annual. SYN. Dolichos sinensis (B. M. 2232). This has been grown as a vegetable in France under the name of Phaseolus Riccardianus.
V. glabra (glabrous). fl. yellow, crowded; racemes borne on stout peduncles, which are longer than the leaves. July to September. fr., pods hirsute. l., leaflets ovate or ovate-lanceolate. Southern United States, 1685. Nearly hardy, twining annual. SYN. Dolichos lutcolus.