Lablab purpureus - Cowpea
This highly decorative variety offers climbing plants with purple stems and veins. The pink flowers give way to short, broad, flat dark purple pods, with small black seeds and a white hilum.
Often grown as an ornamental plant, the young pods are nevertheless edible. The seeds are eaten like beans, fresh or dried, but require two successive cooking waters.
in the ground
Sow directly in place, every 8 cm, 2 to 3 cm deep, in rows 40 cm apart. Plant 3 weeks after emergence. In mild climates, seed can be sown as early as March. Seeds can be soaked to facilitate germination.
For staking, place reams about 2 m apart before the cowpea emits its long, voluble stems.
April, May, June
July, August, September, October
in the ground, in the greenhouse
sunny
low
clayey, limestone, sandy
drained
Lablab purpureus
early
15 grams
Violet
From 300 to 500 cm
6 cm
1883
"Vilmorin-Andrieux "Les Plantes Potagères
This very old species is already described in "Les plantes potagères" written by Vilmorin in 1883. Two varieties exist, one with violet flowers and the other with white flowers.
