Botanical Name: Lablab purpureus Linn.

Family: Papilionaceae; Fabaceae

 

The plant is variable due to extensive breeding in cultivation, but in general, they are annual or short-lived perennial vines. The wild species is perennial. The thick stems can reach six meters in length. The leaves are made up of three pointed leaflets each up to 15 centimeters long. They may be hairy on the undersides. The inflorescence is made up of racemes of many flowers. Some cultivars have white flowers, and others may have purplish or blue. The fruit is a legume pod variable in shape, size, and color. It is usually several centimeters long and bright purple to pale green. It contains up to four seeds. The seeds are white, brown, red, or black depending on the cultivar, sometimes with a white hilum. Wild plants have mottled seeds. The seed is about a centimeter long.

 

Names in different Indian languages

 

English

Indian Butter Bean, Lablab

Bean, Horsebean

Hindi

Sem, bhatvas

Kannada

Capparada avare

Malayalam

Amara, avara

Sanskrit

Nishpaav, Sem

Tamil

Avarai

Telugu

Cikkudu

Unani

 

Folk

 

 

 

 

 

Synonyms

Dolichos lablab Linn. var. typicus Prain.

 


 

 

uses:

 

 

Descriptions on  Ayurveda books / Nighandu:

  

 

 

 

 

Medicinal plants of India ; Ayurveda

Encyclopedia of Indian Medicinal Plants/Herbs mainly using in Ayurveda with good quality pictures and information like therapeutic usage of Medicinal Plants, cultivation, morphology, habitat, flower characters, Chemical content, parts used, research works etc.

medicinal plants