velvet bean
• noun
A vigorous tropical leguminous climbing vine (Mucuna pruriens) of the family Fabaceae, native to Africa and tropical Asia, characterized by purple or white flowers and seedpods densely covered in irritating, velvety hairs; cultivated widely as a forage crop and green manure.
"Farmers often plant the velvet bean as a cover crop to enrich the soil with nitrogen and suppress weeds."
The protein-rich seed or fuzzy pod of this tropical vine, which is soaked and boiled for human consumption as a pulse vegetable, used as livestock feed, or processed for its high natural concentration of levodopa.
"Before cooking the velvet beans for the stew, they must be thoroughly soaked and boiled to remove naturally occurring toxins."
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