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Winged bean

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The Winged Bean, also known as the Goa Bean, Psophocarpus tetragonolobus, is a member of the legume family Fabaceae and is a tropical plant found chiefly in rural areas of Papua, New Guinea and Southeast Asia. It grows abundantly in hot, humid equatorial countries, from the Philippines and Indonesia to India, Burma and Sri Lanka.

The Winged Bean plant grows as a vine with climbing stems and leaves, 3-4 m in high. It is a herbaceous perennial, but can be grown as an annual. They are generally taller and more massive than Snap Beans. The bean pod is typically 6-9 in long and has four wings with frilly edges running lengthwise. The skin is waxy and the flesh partially translucent in the young pods. When the pods are fully ripe, they turn an ash-brown color and split open to release the seeds. The large flowers are a beautiful pale blue.

The plant is one of the best nitrogen fixers with nodulation accomplished by the soil bacterium Rhizobium. Because of its ability to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere, the plant requires very little or no fertilizers.

Being a tropical plant, they are sensitive to frost. They will not flower if day length is more than 12 hours. The seeds have a hard coating and it helps to presoak the seeds before planting to hasten germination. The plants grow very quickly, reaching a length of four meters in a few weeks.

Uses

This bean has been called the “one species supermarket” because practically all of the plant is edible. The beans are used as a vegetable, but the other parts (leaves, flowers, and tuberous roots) are also edible. The flowers are often used to color rice and pastries. The flavor of the beans has a similarity to asparagus. The young leaves can be picked and prepared much like spinach, tasting similar to many cooked greens. The roots can be used like a potato and have a nutty flavor; they are also much more rich in protein than potatoes. The dried seeds can be useful as a flour and also to make a coffee-like drink. Each of these parts of the Winged Bean provide a source of vitamin A and other very essential vitamins.

It is possible that, with a little genetic improvement through selective breeding, that the Winged Bean could raise the standard of living for millions of people in poor, tropical countries.

References

  • Venketeswaran, S., M.A.D.L. Dias, and U.V. Weyers. The winged bean: A potential protein crop. p. 445. In: J. Janick and J.E. Simon (eds.), Advances in new crops. Timber Press, Portland, OR (1990).
  • Entry for the Winged Bean in the “Leaf for Life” website
  • Wilson, Edward O.; The Diversity of Life. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1992).
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