Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper

A small annual bean with hairy pods. It is an erect herb 20-80 cm tall. Sometimes the stems are twining. The stems have dense yellow or rusty hairs. Leaves have 3 leaflets. The leaflets are oval and 3-10 cm long by 1-5.5 cm wide. The leaf stalks are long but the leaflets stalks are short. Flowers are yellow. They are 1-2 cm long in dense flower clusters. The fruit is a pod 4-7 cm long. They are 5-6 mm wide. Seeds are small and black. There are 4 to 10 seeds per pod. Seeds are 4-4.5 mm long by 4 mm wide. They have square ends.

A tropical plant. Mainly coastal but probably will grow up to 1800 m altitude in the tropics. It suits dry areas. It is drought resistant. It is grown in areas with rainfall of 900 mm per year. It cannot stand frost or long periods of cloud. It is not suited to the wet tropics. In Nepal they grow to 2000 m altitude. It suits hardiness zones 10-12.

The ripe seeds are eaten. They are mostly eaten as dal in India. They are fried and roasted and eaten as a snack. The young pods and young leaves are also edible. The beans are also used for bean sprouts. The seeds are used in lentil soup, parched and ground into flour for porridge, or baked into bread. The roasted and ground seeds are used in a spice mixture.

It is grown from seed. Seed collection is easy. Seed can be broadcast or sown as individual plants 25 cm apart.