Vigna is a genus of plants in the legume family, Fabaceae, with a pantropical distribution. It includes some well-known cultivated species, including many types of beans. Some members of the genus were previously classified in Phaseolus. According to Hortus Third, Vigna differs from Phaseolus in biochemistry and pollen structure, and in details of the style and stipules.

Vigna is also commonly confused with the genus Dolichos, but the two differ in stigma structure.

Vigna are herbs or occasionally subshrubs. The leaves are pinnate, divided into 3 leaflets. The inflorescence is a raceme of yellow, blue, or purple pea flowers. The fruit is a legume pod of varying shapes containing seeds.

Familiar food species include the adzuki bean (V. angularis), the black gram (V. mungo), the cowpea (V. unguiculata, including the variety known as the black-eyed pea), and the mung bean (V. radiata). Each of these may be used as a whole bean, a bean paste, or as bean sprouts.

The genus is named after Domenico Vigna, a seventeenth-century Italian botanist and director of the Orto botanico di Pisa.

Uses

Root tubers of Vigna species have traditionally been used as food by the Indigenous Peoples of the Northern Territory of Australia.

Selected species

thumb|right|[[Vigna luteola]]

thumb|right|[[Vigna marina]]

The genus Vigna contains at least 90 species, including:

Subgenus Ceratotropis

  • Vigna aconitifolia <small>(Jacq.) Maréchal</small>—moth bean, mat bean, Turkish gram
  • Vigna angularis <small>(Willd.) Ohwi & H. Ohashi</small>—adzuki bean, red bean
  • Vigna angularis var. angularis <small>(Willd.) Ohwi & H. Ohashi</small>
  • Vigna angularis var. nipponensis <small>(Ohwi) Ohwi & H. Ohashi</small>
  • Vigna glabrescens <small>Maréchal et al.</small>
  • Vigna grandiflora <small>(Prain) Tateishi & Maxted</small>
  • Vigna hirtella <small>Ridley</small>
  • Vigna minima <small>(Roxb.) Ohwi & H. Ohashi</small>
  • Vigna mungo <small>(L.) Hepper</small>—black gram, black lentil, white lentil, urd-bean, urad bean
  • Vigna mungo var. silvestris <small>Lukoki, Maréchal & Otoul</small>
  • Vigna nakashimae <small>(Ohwi) Ohwi & H. Ohashi</small>
  • Vigna nepalensis <small>Tateishi & Maxted</small>
  • Vigna radiata <small>(L.) Wilczek</small>—mung bean, green gram, golden gram, mash bean, green soy, celera-bean, Jerusalem-pea
  • Vigna radiata var. radiata <small>(L.) Wilczek</small>
  • Vigna radiata var. sublobata <small>(Roxb.) Verdc.</small>
  • Vigna reflexopilosa <small>Hayata</small>—Creole-bean
  • Vigna reflexopilosa var. reflexopilosa <small>Hayata</small>
  • Vigna reflexopilosa var. glabra <small>Tomooka & Maxted</small>
  • Vigna riukiuensis <small>(Ohwi) Ohwi & H. Ohashi</small>
  • Vigna sahyadriana <small>Aitawade, K.V.Bhat & S.R.Yadav</small>
  • Vigna stipulacea <small>Kuntze</small>
  • Vigna subramaniana <small>(Babu ex Raizada) M. Sharma</small>
  • Vigna tenuicaulis <small>N. Tomooka & Maxted</small>
  • Vigna trilobata <small>(L.) Verdc.</small>—jungle mat bean, jungli-bean, African gram, three-lobe-leaved cowpea
  • Vigna trinervia <small>(Heyne ex Wall.) Tateishi & Maxted</small>
  • Vigna umbellata <small>(Thunb.) Ohwi & H. Ohashi</small>—ricebean, red bean, climbing mountain-bean, mambi bean, Oriental-bean

Subgenus Haydonia

  • Vigna monophylla <small>Taub.</small>
  • Vigna nigritia <small>Hook. f.</small>
  • Vigna schimperi <small>Baker</small>
  • Vigna triphylla <small>(R. Wilczek) Verdc.</small>

Subgenus Lasiospron

  • Vigna diffusa <small>(Scott-Elliot) A. Delgado & Verdc.</small>
  • Vigna juruana <small>(Harms) Verdc.</small>
  • Vigna lasiocarpa <small>(Mart. ex Benth.) Verdc.</small>
  • Vigna longifolia <small>(Benth.) Verdc.</small>
  • Vigna schottii <small>(Bentham) A. Delgado & Verdc.</small>
  • Vigna trichocarpa <small>(C. Wright ex Sauvalle) A. Delgado</small>
  • Vigna vexillata <small>(L.) A. Rich.</small>—zombi pea, wild cowpea
  • Vigna vexillata var. angustifolia
  • Vigna vexillata var. youngiana

Subgenus Vigna

  • Vigna ambacensis <small>Welw. ex Bak.</small>
  • Vigna angivensis <small>Baker</small>
  • Vigna filicaulis <small>Hepper</small>
  • Vigna friesiorum <small>Harms</small>
  • Vigna gazensis <small>Baker f.</small>
  • Vigna hosei <small>(Craib) Backer</small>—Sarowak/Sarawak bean
  • Vigna luteola <small>(Jacq.) Benth.</small>—Dalrymple vigna
  • Vigna membranacea <small>A. Rich.</small>
  • Vigna membranacea subsp. caesia <small>(Chiov.) Verdc.</small>
  • Vigna membranacea subsp. membranacea <small>A. Rich.</small>
  • Vigna monantha <small>Thulin</small>
  • Vigna racemosa <small>(G. Don) Hutch. & Dalziel</small>
  • Vigna subterranea <small>(L.) Verdc.</small>—Bambara groundnut, Congo goober, hog-peanut, jugo bean, njugumawe (Swahili) (sometimes separated in Voandzeia)
  • Vigna unguiculata <small>(L.) Walp.</small>—cowpea, crowder pea, Southern pea, Reeve's-pea, snake-bean
  • Vigna unguiculata subsp. cylindrica—catjang
  • Vigna unguiculata subsp. dekindtiana—wild cowpea, African cowpea, Ethiopian cowpea
  • Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis—yardlong bean, long-podded cowpea, asparagus bean, Chinese long bean, pea-bean
  • Vigna unguiculata subsp. unguiculata—black-eyed pea, black-eyed bean

Incertae sedis

<!-- Vigna adenantha was reclassified as Leptospron adenanthum. -->

<!-- Vigna aristata was reclassified as Lablab purpureus. -->

<!-- Vigna antillana was reclassified as Sigmoidotropis antillana. -->

<!-- Vigna candida was reclassified as Condylostylis candida. -->

<!-- Vigna caracalla was reclassified as Cochliasanthus caracalla. -->

  • Vigna comosa
  • Vigna dalzelliana
  • Vigna debilis <small>Fourc.</small>
  • Vigna decipiens
  • Vigna dinteri <small>Harms</small>
  • Vigna dolichoides <small>Baker in Hooker f.</small>

<!-- Vigna elegans was reclassified as Sigmoidotropis elegans. -->

<!-- Vigna firmula was reclassified as Ancistrotropis arrabidae. -->

  • Vigna frutescens

<!-- Vigna gentryi was reclassified as Leptospron gentryi. -->

  • Vigna gracilis

<!-- Vigna hookeri was reclassified as Helicotropis hookeri. -->

  • Vigna kirkii
  • Vigna lanceolata—pencil yam, Maloga-bean, parsnip-bean, merne arlatyeye (Arrernte)

<!-- Vigna latidenticulata was reclassified as Condylostylis latidenticulata. -->

<!-- Vigna linearis was reclassified as Helicotropis linearis. -->

  • Vigna lobata <small>(Willd.) Endl.</small>
  • Vigna lobatifolia
  • Vigna marina <small>(Burm.f.) Merr.</small>—dune-bean, notched cowpea, sea-bean, mohihihi, nanea (Hawaiian)

<!-- Vigna megatyla was reclassified as Sigmoidotropis megatyla. -->

  • Vigna multiflora
  • Vigna nervosa
  • Vigna oblongifolia
  • Vigna owahuensis <small>Vogel</small>—Oahu cowpea
  • Vigna parkeri—creeping vigna

<!-- Vigna peduncularis was reclassified as Ancistrotropis peduncularis. -->

  • Vigna pilosa

<!-- Vigna polytyla was reclassified as Sigmoidotropis polytyla. -->

<!-- Vigna speciosa was reclassified as Sigmoidotropis speciosa. -->

<!-- Vigna spectabilis was reclassified as Helicotropis spectabilis. -->

<!-- Vigna subhastata was reclassified as Ancistrotropis subhastata. -->

<!-- Vigna venusta was reclassified as Condylostylis venusta. -->

<!-- Vigna vignoides was reclassified as Condylostylis vignoides. -->

References