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Mucuna urens
Also called Ox Eye Bean, Red Hamburger Bean
Mucuna urens is a large, vigorous tropical twining liana from the pea and bean family that climbs into forest canopies. It is grown mainly as a wild or ornamental climber in warm, wet climates, and its stinging pods and hairs are the key hazard to know about.
Mucuna urens is a species of large liana from the family Fabaceae. The plant is native to tropical Central and South America, and has been introduced into the Republic of the Congo. Common names include horse-eye bean and ox-eye bean.
This liana is native to the West Indies, Central and South America, its range extending from Panama to Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Brazil. It grows in forests and woodland at altitudes of up to 1,800 m (6,000 ft).
Mucuna urens is used in traditional medicine. A tincture made from the powdered bean macerated in alcohol is a soothing remedy used against hemorrhoids, especially those inclined to bleed. The stinging hairs that grow on the pods can be taken internally against intestinal worms, which are expelled alive. These hairs are irritating to the skin and cause intense itching, with reddening and the formation of tiny pustules, soon after contact; the active chemical is the proteolytic enzyme, mucunain.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Mucuna urens 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.
