Botanical Name - Mucuna pruriens

----- Mucuna, Adans.; F.B.I. II-185. M. pruriens, DC., F.B.I. II-187. Brandi's Ind. Trees, 226. Vern. Kach-kori, Hind. Dul-dundi, Tila-kogila, Tel. Kiwach, Mar. The " Cowhage " or " Cow-itch " climber.

----- An annual twining herb. Leaflets 3-8 in. long, ovate or rhomboid, membranous, glabrescent bove, silky hairs lying along the surface beneath, mucronate; leaf-stalk 6-10 in long. Racemes 1/2 - 1 ft. long, short-peduncled, drooping, 10-20 flowered. Flowers large showy, pendulous. Calyx 3/8 ni. long with a few irritating bristles. Corolla purplish, 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 in. long; keel and wings longer than standard. Stamens diadelphou; anthers alternately longer basifixed, and shorter versatile. Ovary sessile, many-ovuled. Pod 2-3 in. long, 5-6-seeded, swollen, turned up at the end, longitudinally ribbed, covered with dense pale-brown bristles.

----- This is a very common climber in hedges and on the outskirts of the forests. The pods are covered with stiff, irritating, golden-coloured bristles, and contact with them should be carefully avoided. They are given as a vermifuge to cattle, the pods being shaken together in a pot of butter-milk which is then given to drink intermixed with the irritating hairs. The seeds and root are also used in native medicine.