Chinese name:

cowpea English name: Yardlongbean, Scientific name of Asparagus bean:

Vigna sesquipedalis. Family name:

Leguminosea or Fabaceae. Alias:

Kidney bean, long bean, kidney bean, wakame bean and red male bean Origin: Indian distribution: It is one of the important vegetables in Taiwan Province in summer, and likes high temperature. Usage: 1. Edible: Cowpea is rich in fiber and vitamins A, C, calcium and iron, so it can help the development of teeth and bones. It also has the effects of enriching blood and hematopoiesis, preventing constipation and taking care of eye essence, and has many nutritional effects. 2. Used for feeding poultry and livestock feed: the outer stems and leaves can be used as dried straw green feed for feeding poultry and livestock. 3. It can be used as farmland green manure: Rhizobia often grow in the roots, which can fix nitrogen in the atmosphere, so it can be used as farmland green manure. Leaves:

pinnate 3-lobule, terminal lobule rhomboid-ovoid, 5-15 cm long, lateral lobule oblique-ovoid, 6.5-11 cm long. Flowers:

4-6 flowers are clustered in the upper part of inflorescence, with lilac corolla and linear ovary. Stem: The stem is several meters long and hairless. Fruit: the pod is slightly fleshy, soft, linear and cylindrical, 3-5 cm long and 6-9 mm in diameter; Many seeds, kidney-shaped. Characteristics:

annual vine herb. Because it likes high temperature and humidity, it is abundant from May to September. Therefore, there is a proverb that says: "Before Qingming Festival, it was good to cultivate fields; After the Qingming Festival, it is good to plant beans. It means that after the Qingming Festival, the weather is warm and there is a lot of rain, which is suitable for growing beans (cowpeas). Cowpea is about 5 to 6 cm long per pod, which is long and cylindrical. According to the appearance view, it can be divided into white skin, red kernel and flower kernel; Green husk and black kernel; Red skin and black kernel (commonly called red eel) and other three colors.