1.2- Genus Vigna + Overview Vignais a genus of flowering plants in the legumefamily, 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 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 (Vigna angularis), the black gram (Vigna mungo), the cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), and the mung bean (Vigna radiata), which is used as a whole bean, a bean paste, or as bean sprouts. The genus is named after Domenico Vigna, a seventeenth-century Italianbotanist and director of the Orto botanico di Pisa. Synonyms Azukia Takah. ex Ohwi Condylostylis Piper Dolichovigna Hayata Haydonia R. Wilczek Liebrechtsia De Wild. Plectrotropis Schumach. Scytalis E. Mey. Voandzeia Thouars + Subgenera The genus Vigna has 5 subgenera with at least 60 species. 1- Subgenus Ceratotropis [18 species] 2- Subgenus Haydonia [4 species] 3- Subgenus Lasiospron [7 species] 4- Subgenus Vigna [12 species] 5- Subgnus Incertae Sedis [19 species]
2- Taxonomy of the Genus Vigna
2.1- Subgenus and Species The genus Vigna contains about 60 to 90 species, including: 1- Subgenus Ceratotropis [18 species] 1- Vigna aconitifolia (Jacq.) Maréchal - moth bean, mat bean, Turkish gram 2- Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & H. Ohashi - azuki bean, red bean - Vigna angularis var. angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & H. Ohashi - Vigna angularis var. nipponensis (Ohwi) Ohwi & H. Ohashi 3- Vigna glabrescens Maréchal et al. 4- Vigna grandiflora (Prain) Tateishi & Maxted 5- Vigna hirtella Ridley 6- Vigna minima (Roxb.) Ohwi & H. Ohashi 7- Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper - black gram, black lentil, white lentil, urd-bean, urad bean -Vigna mungo var. silvestris Lukoki, Maréchal & Otoul 8- Vigna nakashimae (Ohwi) Ohwi & H. Ohashi 9- Vigna nepalensis Tateishi & Maxted 10- Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek - mung bean, green gram, golden gram, mash bean, green soy, celera-bean, Jerusalem-pea - Vigna radiata var. radiata (L.) Wilczek - Vigna radiata var. sublobata (Roxb.) Verdc. 11- Vigna reflexopilosa Hayata - Creole-bean -Vigna reflexopilosa var. reflexopilosa Hayata -Vigna reflexopilosa var. glabra Tomooka & Maxted 12- Vigna riukiuensis (Ohwi) Ohwi & H. Ohashi 13- Vigna stipulacea Kuntze 14- Vigna subramaniana (Babu ex Raizada) M. Sharma 15- Vigna tenuicaulis N. Tomooka & Maxted 16- Vigna trilobata (L.) Verdc.-jungle mat bean, jungli-bean, African gram, three-lobe-leaved cowpea 17- Vigna trinervia (Heyne ex Wall.) Tateishi & Maxted 18- Vigna umbellata (Thunb.) Ohwi & H. Ohashi - ricebean, red bean, climbing mountain-bean, mambi bean, Oriental-bean.