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Canavalia gladiata
Also called Sword Bean, Scimitar Bean
Sword bean is a climbing annual legume grown for its young pods, which are eaten as a vegetable in parts of India, Africa and Asia. It needs warm, humid tropical conditions and a long growing season.
Canavalia gladiata, the sword bean or scimitar bean, is a domesticated plant species in the legume family Fabaceae. It is used as a vegetable in interior central and south central India, though not commercially farmed. The unripe pods are also eaten as a vegetable in Africa and Asia.
The term "sword bean" is also used for other legumes, notably the common jack bean Canavalia ensiformis.
Sword beans can be found from sea level up to 900 m (3,000 ft) elevation. They need temperatures between 20 and 30 °C (68 and 86 °F) to grow and about 900–1,500 mm (35–59 in) evenly distributed rainfall per year.
The average yield of sword beans can reach 720–1500 kg/ha. To be used as vegetable, the pods are harvested after 3 to 5 months of growth, when they are about 12.5 to 15 cm long, before the seeds swell and become hard. For the seeds to mature about 6 to 10 months of growth are needed.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Canavalia gladiata 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.
