Mucuna

Mucuna is a genus of vines and shrubs of the legume family Fabaceae: tribe Phaseoleae. It has a pan-tropical distribution and contains 112 accepted species . The genus was created in 1763 by French botanist Michel Adanson.

==Description== Plants in this genus are mostly woody or herbaceous vines, with the exception of M. stans, a shrub. The leaves are stipulate and trifoliate with large leaflets. Inflorescences are produced from the or from older stems, and all except those of M. stans and M. stanleyi are pendant; they may be arranged as pseudo-racemes or pseudo-panicles. The flowers have the characteristic pea flower form; they are large and showy and exhibit a wide range of colours across the different species. The fruit are dehiscent pods that may be ovoid or oblong and contain a number of seeds; they have divisions (septa) between each seed, the pod may be winged and/or ribbed, and they are often coated in stiff irritating hairs.