Mucuna pruriens:
🔹 General Info
•Scientific name: Mucuna pruriens
•Family: Fabaceae (legume family)
•Common names: Velvet bean, cowhage, cowitch, atmagupta (Ayurveda), itchy bean (because of the stinging hairs).
It’s a tropical climbing vine widely grown in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
🔹 Characteristics
•Growth: Fast-growing legume, used both as a cover crop and for medicinal purposes.
•Seeds: Large, shiny, black, brown, or mottled beans inside pods.
•Pods: Covered with hairs that can cause intense itching when touched.
🔹 Agricultural Uses
•Green manure/cover crop: Improves soil fertility by fixing nitrogen.
•Animal feed: Its seeds and leaves can be used (after detoxification) as livestock feed.
•Erosion control: Strong growth helps protect soil.
🔹 Medicinal Uses
•L-DOPA source: Seeds are rich in L-DOPA (levodopa), a direct precursor to dopamine.
•Widely used in Ayurveda for treating Parkinson’s disease and other neurological conditions.
•Traditional medicine: Used as an aphrodisiac, nervine tonic, and for improving mood, male fertility, and vitality.
•Other potential effects: Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective