Stizolobium
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| Water: | ◍ | ?"?" is not in the list (wet, moist, moderate, dry, less when dormant) of allowed values for the "Water" property. |
Read about Stizolobium in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
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Stizolobium (name refers to the stinging pods). Leguminosae. Velvet Bean. Some of the species are grown as ornamental vines in warm countries, as the growth is very strong, but the genus is valuable mostly for its forage species and therefore does not demand extended treatment here. These plants are allied to Glycine, which includes the soybean. The lvs. are large and 3-foliolate: fls. in axillary clusters, long or oblong, large, dark purple (sometimes white or yellowish) but turning black when dried, the corolla much longer than the narrow-lobed calyx; the keel long, boat-shaped and usually twice or thrice longer than the obtuse standard and also longer than the wings; stamens diadelphous (9 and 1) the anthers not uniform in kind: pod often hairy, bristly or pubescent, containing pea-like seeds.—Species perhaps a dozen, tropics of Old World. The genus Stizolobium was formerly included under Mucuna, but is now distinguished from that genus (which see, p. 2074, Vol. IV) by its seed and other characters. In Stizolobium the seeds are nearly spherical, or flattened-oval in shape, with the hilum covering often less than one-sixth of its circumference and never more than one-fourth, while in Mucuna the seeds are nearly circular in outline, flattened, and with the hilum extending at least three-fourths of its circumference. In germination Mucuna has alternate scale-like lvs., while Stizolobium has petioled, trifoliate lvs. with cordate lfts. Mucuna is perennial, while Stizolobium is strictly annual. Such species of Stizolobium as are cult. for forage have pods which are nearly smooth, or are covered by a dense velvety pubescence; but there are a number of other species, notably S. pruriens, grown in the tropics, in which the pods have a dense covering of bristly stinging hairs, and are known under the common name of "cowage" or "cowitch." The principal economic use of the velvet beans or stizolobiums is as a winter pasture crop in the southern states. They are commonly planted with corn, the stalks of which give the necessary support, without which they produce few seeds. Some cultivators plant two rows of corn and then one row of the beans, while others plant the beans in alternate hills with the corn; the former method gives more corn to the acre, while the latter yields the heavier crops of beans. The crop is seldom cut for hay, as the vines are too long and tangled to be handled easily, but is left in the field until it is killed by frost, and is then grazed, as the vines, leaves, and seeds may remain on the ground a long time without injury from frost or rain. There are many varieties of this bean, some of which mature in about one hundred days from planting, while others fail to ripen without ten to eleven months free of frost. Some varieties produce profitable crops as far north as Tennessee, while others often fail to mature even in southern Florida. Among the many kinds now cultivated in the United States the best known is the Florida velvet bean (S. Deeringianum, Bort). This is of unknown origin, but it has been cultivated as an ornamental vine in Florida many years. About 1890 its value as a forage plant attracted attention, and thousands of acres are now grown for feeding cattle and hogs. This species makes a wonderful growth, producing vines 60 to 100 feet in length, and bearing clusters of large purple pea-shaped flowers which are followed by pods 2 to 3 inches in length containing four to six nearly spherical seeds. In recent years several sports or varieties have been developed, which mature seed in 110 to 130 days from planting, and are now cultivated largely in the region from Florida northward to northern Georgia and Tennessee. Among the more common of the recently introduced kinds are the Lyon velvet bean (S. niveum, Kuntze) which bears racemes fully 3 feet in length with white flowers; the Chinese, which is similar but has shorter racemes and matures much earlier; the Black (S. capitatum, Kuntze), which has very long racemes with purple flowers, and late-ripening pods covered with a velvety pubescence; and the Yokohama (S. Hassjoo, Piper & Tracy), which matures within three to four months from planting. In addition to these there are numberless crosses and hybrids. As all the species are natives of tropical or semi-tropical regions they require a long season without frost for their successful cultivation. For botanical and other accounts, see Bulletins Nos. 141 and 179, Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture; also Belling on inheritance problems in crossing stizolobiums, Report of Florida Experiment Station for 1914. The varieties mostly grown for ornament are the Lyon, with flowers in racemes often 3 feet in length; the Chinese, which is very similar to the Lyon but has shorter racemes and blooms much earlier; and varieties of S. chlorospermum, Piper & Tracy, with flowers light purple. All of these have pods 5 to 6 inches in length, f-shaped (the ends curved in opposite directions), somewhat brown- or gray-bristly. The most common species in this country is the Florida Speckled, S. Deeringianum, Bort. (Fig. 3697), which has been grown in Florida many years, and has been commonly known as "the vine." This seldom matured much seed north of central Florida, but in recent years several varieties have been developed which mature as far north as Tennessee. The pods of this species are usually less than 3 inches long, and are covered with a black velvety pubescence. All are annual climbers, growing to a great length. The branches are somewhat appressed-hairy, the leaves more or less silky beneath, leaflets ovate, or the lateral ones rhombic-ovate, obtuse but apiculate. The cow-itch or cowage, S. pruriens, Medic. (Dolichos pruriens, Linn. D. multiflorus, Hort. Mucuna pruriens, DC.), is apparently the oldest species known, and has become naturalized in the West Indies, but is not grown in the United States. The pods of this species are red or reddish black in color, nearly straight, and 4 to 5 inches in length. They are very bristly-hairy, the bristles are easily dislodged by a touch and are extremely irritating to the skin, often producing troublesome blisters. In the West Indies a decoction of these hairs is often used as a remedy for intestinal worms. Only varieties with a minimum growth of these stinging hairs are ever cultivated for either ornament or for forage. It is an interesting fact that when any two distinct forms, both having relatively smooth pods, are crossed, the first generation always produces forms heavily covered with stinging hairs, although the second generation usually shows a large percentage of nearly smooth pods. This seems a strong indication that S. pruriens is the original type of the genus. Cattle have been fed successfully on the meal made of the beans ground in the pod, but persons have been made sick by eating the green cooked beans, and chickens have been killed by both raw and cooked beans. Because of its vigorous growth, the velvet bean promises well as a soil-renovator, as the cowpea does, although it can not be grown so far north as that plant. It is a good ornamental plant, growing 10 to 20 feet high when supplied with support. The handsome globular beans (1/8 to 1/2 inch diameter.) have marking which suggests the castor bean. CH
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References
- Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963
External links
- w:Stizolobium. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
- Stizolobium QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)