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Canavalia ensiformis
Also called Jack Bean, Giant Stock Bean, Gotani Bean, Horse Bean, Seaside Bean, Sword Bean, Wonder Bean
Jack bean (Canavalia ensiformis) is a warm-climate legume grown for food, fodder and as a drought-tolerant ground cover or climber. It does best in rich soil, full sun and warmth.
Canavalia ensiformis (jack bean) is a legume which is used for animal fodder and human nutrition, especially in Brazil where it is called feijão-de-porco ("pig bean"). It is also the source of concanavalin A.
Historically, it was used by native tribes for food and forage in droughty regions of Arizona and Mexico. Now, while commonly consumed in Asia and Japan, C. ensiformis seem to be unpopular elsewhere. The beans are mildly toxic, and copious consumption should be avoided. Boiling will, however, remove toxicity if done properly. Young foliage is also edible. The whole plant is used for fodder, although it cannot be used in fodder mixtures containing urea, since it contains large quantities of the enzyme urease, which liberates harmful ammonia from urea. For this reason C. ensiformis has been investigated as a potential source of the urease enzyme. It is also the source of concanavalin A, a lectin used in biotechnology applications, such as lectin affinity chromatography.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Canavalia ensiformis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
