Vigna

Vigna is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae, with a pantropical distribution. It includes some well-known cultivated species, including many types of beans. Some are former members of the genus "Phaseolus". According to "Hortus Third", "Vigna" differs from "Phaseolus" in biochemistry and pollen structure, and in details of the style and stipules.
"Vigna" is also commonly confused with the genus "Dolichos", but the two differ in stigma structure.
"Vigna" are herbs or occasionally subshrubs. The leaves are pinnate, divided into 3 leaflets. The inflorescence is a raceme of yellow, blue, or purple pea flowers. The fruit is a legume pod of varying shape containing seeds.
Familiar food species include the adzuki bean ("V. angularis"), the black gram ("V. mungo"), the cowpea ("V. unguiculata", including the variety known as the black-eyed pea), and the mung bean ("V. radiata"). Each of these may be used as a whole bean, a bean paste, or as bean sprouts.
The genus is named after Domenico Vigna, a seventeenth-century Italian botanist and director of the Orto botanico di Pisa.
Uses.
Root tubers of "Vigna" species have traditionally been used as food for Aborigines of the Northern Territory.
Selected species.
The genus "Vigna" contains at least 90 species, including: