Moth Bean (Vigna aconitifolia) Gardening
Moth Bean is the seed of Vigna aconitifolia, an annual trailing herbaceous plant in the family Fabaceae, native to Sri Lanka, India, and Myanmar. It is also known as mat bean, matki bean, Turkish gram, mout bean, or dew gram. Moth bean is grown for the small edible beans. In India, it is widely cultivated as a crop, forage, hay, green manure, and ground cover.
Moth bean plant, 10-30 cm tall, is a hot-weather, drought-resistant, ground-hugging hairy plant that resembles a small mat. There are up to 12 trailing main branches, 60-130 cm long, developed from short erect main stem, 10-40 cm long, and forms densely matted, horizontal clump. Terminal leaflet has 5 acuminate lobes and lateral leaflet has 4 lobes. The bright yellow small flowers are borne on hairy branches, and later develop into 5-7.5 cm long cylindrical smooth pods. The pod is brown or pale gray when mature, with each pod contains 4-9 seeds. The oblong seed, 3-4 mm, is light brown to dark reddish-brown in color. Inner meat is golden yellow with an earthy and somewhat nutty flavor for main dishes, side dishes and snack food. Moth beans are eaten as a sprout, or as a dhal (the hulled bean).
Moth bean plant matures 2-3 months after planting. In India, the small edible seeds are eaten whole or split, fried, boiled, ground to dhal, sprouted and eaten with or without salt, or fried and salted. The green pods are eaten as a vegetables.
Moth Bean (Vigna aconitifolia)
Author: Lalitstar (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)
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