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Publication #HS552

Bean, Hyacinth — Dolichos lablab L., or Lablab purpureus (L.) Sweet1

James M. Stephens2

The hyacinth bean is also called lablab, bonavist, Chinese flowering, Egyptian, Pharao, shink, val, wild field, and Indian bean. It is not cultivated much in Florida, or in the rest of the United States, but where it is grown in Florida, it is mainly for ornamental purposes. In some areas of the United States, it has been used as a forage crop.

DESCRIPTION

Hyacinth bean is widely grown in Southern Asia and Africa where the ripe seeds and the green pods are used for food. The plant is similar to the Southern pea, but the vines are longer and tougher. When the plant is supported, it often has a vine 20-25 feet long. Leaves are broad, oval and pointed.

Hyacinth bean. 

The green or purple pods are small, 2-3 inches long, flat, smooth, and slightly sickle shaped. Pods resemble a lima bean pod with corrugation on the edge. Each pod contains 4-6 seeds that may be red, brown, or white. A distinctive mark is the long white seed scar. The 4 to 6 inch long sweet scented flowers vary in color, being white, pink, or purple. A field type that is erect and bushy has inedible pods.

CULTURE AND USE

When attempting to grow the bean, use cultural techniques similar to those for the pole bean. The ripe seeds are less nutritious than the Southern pea and they produce a somewhat disagreeable odor upon cooking. Dried seeds are a wholesome food.

AT GAINESVILLE

Many of you visiting the organic gardens at Fifield Hall, University of Florida, have observed the prolific purple lablab bean vines growing on the garden fence. These were seeded in 1990,and have continued to flourish as a perennial crop, coming back in the spring of each year from its winter kill. The yield of pods during the late spring and on into fall is very great. Each purple pod is well filled with plump green, large lima bean-size seeds.

Footnotes

1.

This document is HS552, one of a series of the Horticultural Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Original publication date April 1994. Reviewed March 2009. Visit the EDIS Web Site at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

2.

James M. Stephens, professor, Horticultural Sciences Department, Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Millie Ferrer-Chancy, Interim Dean.