刺毛黧豆(原变种) ci mao li dou (yuan bian zhong)

Dolichos pruriens Linnaeus, Herb. Amboin. 23. 1754; Mucuna esquirolii H. Léveillé; M. prurita Wight; Stizolobium pruriens (Linnaeus) Medikus.

Stems with fine and coarse hairs, later glabrous. Terminal leaflet with length:width ratio 1.5-1.75:1; lateral leaflets not markedly larger, to 19 cm. Inflorescence with dense hairs and often sparse bristles. Calyx with soft hairs and often irritant bristles. Legume linear-oblong, not or slightly swollen around seeds and slightly S-shaped, to ca. 1 cm wide, densely covered with orange or brown irritant caducous bristles. Seeds 3-6, usu­ally light yellow-brown, sometimes brown to black. Fl. Sep-Jan, fr. Oct-Apr.

Forests, riversides, thickets, tall scrub, roadsides; to 1700 m. Gui­zhou, Hainan, Yunnan [widely distributed in the tropics].

Mucuna pruriens var. pruriens is distinctive in its small linear often S-shaped fleshy legume densely covered with irritant orange-brown bristles. It is often confused with M. bracteata, which differs in the acute leaflets with robust prominent veins less hairy abaxially than the leaf surface, the inflorescences with bracts or scars of flowerless nodes in lower part, and the almost straight legume.