Portuguese Coffee
Mucuna pruriens var. utilis
Also known as Velvetbean, Picapica, Mauritius Bean, Café Brazilii, Bengal Bean
About Portuguese Coffee
Mucuna pruriens is a tropical legume native to Africa and tropical Asia and widely naturalized and cultivated. Its 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 plant is notorious for the extreme itchiness it produces on contact, particularly with the young foliage and the seed pods. It also produces many medium-sized red swollen bumps on the skin with the itching. It has agricultural and horticultural value, and is used in herbalism.
Description adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Mucuna pruriens var. utilis
- Genus
- Mucuna
- Family
- FABACEAE
- Habit
- Climber
- Habitat
- Cultivated
- Native to
- Southeast Asia
- Flowering & fruiting
- June-December
- Conservation status
- NE
Local Names
- Hindi
- Kiwach
- Nepali
- काउसे सिमी Kaause Simee
- Bengali
- Akolchi
- Telugu
- Pilliadugu
- Kannada
- ನಸುಗುನ್ನಿ Nasugunni, ನೊಸಗೊನ್ನೆ Nosagonne, ನಾಯಿಸೊಣಗುಬಳ್ಳಿ Nayisonanguballi
- Malayalam
- Naicorna
- Marathi
- खाज कुइरी Khaj-kuiri
Fabaceae
Legume/Bean family
Portuguese Coffee belongs to the Fabaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
Explore the FABACEAE family →Snap it. Know it.
Point your camera at portuguese coffee or any plant and SASYA identifies it instantly — on-device, offline, and private.
More in FABACEAE
- Indian Liquorice, Jeguirity, Bead Vine, Black-Eyed Susan, Buddhist Rosary Bead, Crab's eye, Indian liquorice, Rosary pea, Wild liquoriceAbrus precatorius
- Showy Rosary PeaAbrus pulchellus
- American Joint Vetch, Shy leaf, Sola Pith PlantAeschynomene americana
- Sola pith plant, Pith plantAeschynomene aspera
- BuddapeaAeschynomene indica
- Belgaum Alyce CloverAlysicarpus belgaumensis