A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae (legumes) which are used as vegetables for human consumption or animal food. The seeds are often preserved through drying, but fresh beans are also sold. Most beans are traditionally soaked and boiled, but they can be cooked in many different ways, including frying and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes throughout the world. The unripe seedpods of some varieties are also eaten whole as green beans, which can be eaten raw, as well as edamame, but fully ripened beans contain toxins like phytohemagglutinin and require cooking.
Legumes are plants in the family Fabaceae, or the fruit or seeds of such plants. When used as a dry grain for human consumption, the seeds are also called pulses. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, but also as livestock forage and silage, and as soil-enhancing green manure. Well-known legumes include beans, chickpeas, peanuts, lentils, lupins, mesquite, carob, tamarind, alfalfa, and clover. Legumes produce a botanically unique type of fruit – a simple dry fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually dehisces on two sides.
Borage, also known as starflower, is an annual herb in the flowering plant family Boraginaceae native to the Mediterranean region. Although the plant contains small amounts of pyrrolizidine alkaloids, some parts are edible and its seeds provide oil.
Tussilago farfara, commonly known as coltsfoot, is a plant in the tribe Senecioneae in the family Asteraceae, native to Europe and parts of western and central Asia. The name "tussilago" is derived from the Latin tussis, meaning cough, and ago, meaning to cast or to act on. It has had uses in traditional medicine, but the discovery of toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids in the plant has resulted in liver health concerns.
Crotalaria longirostrata, the chipilín, is a perennial legume that is native to Mexico and Central America. Other common names include chepil, chepilin, chipilin and longbeak rattlebox.
Cnidoscolus aconitifolius, commonly known as chaya, tree spinach, or spinach tree, is a large, fast-growing and leafy perennial shrub that is believed to have originated in the Yucatán Peninsula of southeastern México. The specific epithet, aconitifolius, refers to the plant’s "Aconitum-like leaves"—coincidentally, another well-known dangerous, even deadly, genus of plants. As with most euphorbias, the entire plant contains a caustic, viscous and potentially dangerous white sap which flows readily when any part of the plant is broken, cut or damaged.
Lupinus angustifolius is a species of lupin known by many common names, including narrowleaf lupin, narrow-leaved lupin and blue lupin. It is native to Eurasia and northern Africa and naturalized in parts of Australia and North America. It has been cultivated for over 6000 years as a food crop for its edible legume seeds, as a fodder for livestock and for green manure.
Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs), sometimes referred to as necine bases, are a group of naturally occurring alkaloids based on the structure of pyrrolizidine. Their use dates back centuries and is intertwined with the discovery, understanding, and eventual recognition of their toxicity on humans and animals.
Crotalaria juncea, known as brown hemp, Indian hemp, Madras hemp, or sunn hemp, is a tropical Asian plant of the legume family (Fabaceae). It is generally considered to have originated in India.
Erythrina fusca is a species of flowering tree in the legume family, Fabaceae. It is known by many common names, including purple coraltree, gallito, bois immortelle, bucayo, and the more ambiguous "bucare" and "coral bean". E. fusca has the widest distribution of any Erythrina species; it is the only one found in both the New and Old World. It grows on coasts and along rivers in tropical Asia, Oceania, the Mascarene Islands, Madagascar, Africa, and the Neotropics.
Utetheisa ornatrix, also called the ornate bella moth, ornate moth, bella moth or rattlebox moth, is a moth of the subfamily Arctiinae. It is aposematically colored ranging from pink, red, orange and yellow to white coloration with black markings arranged in varying patterns on its wings. It has a wingspan of 33–46 mm. Moths reside in temperate midwestern and eastern North America as well as throughout Mexico and other parts of Central America. Unlike most moths, the bella moth is diurnal. Formerly, the bella moth or beautiful utetheisa of temperate eastern North America was separated as Utetheisa bella. Now it is united with the bella moth in Utetheisa ornatrix.
Senecionine is a toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloid isolated from various botanical sources. It takes its name from the Senecio genus and is produced by many different plants in that genus, including Jacobaea vulgaris. It has also been isolated from several other plants, including Brachyglottis repanda, Emilia, Erechtites hieraciifolius, Petasites, Syneilesis, Crotalaria, Caltha leptosepala, and Castilleja.
Pyrrolizidine alkaloidosis is a disease caused by chronic poisoning found in humans and other animals caused by ingesting poisonous plants which contain the natural chemical compounds known as pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Pyrrolizidine alkaloidosis can result in damage to the liver, kidneys, heart, brain, smooth muscles, lungs, DNA, lesions all over the body, and could be a potential cause of cancer. Pyrrolizidine alkaloidosis is known by many other names such as "Pictou Disease" in Canada and "Winton Disease" in New Zealand. Cereal crops and forage crops can sometimes become polluted with pyrrolizidine-containing seeds, resulting in the alkaloids contaminating flour and other foods, including milk from cows feeding on these plants.
Erythrina edulis (basul) is a nitrogen fixing tree that is native to the Andean region from western Venezuela to southern Bolivia. Nowadays it is known in Venezuela as "frijol mompás", in Bolivia, Peru and Northwest Argentina as "psonay", "pajuro", "sachaporoto del basul" or "poroto del sacha", in Colombia as "chachafruto", "balú", "baluy" or "sachaporoto" and in Ecuador as "guato". Although it is widely known, it is not commonly cultivated. Future research is needed, especially in agroforestry. Basul is a legume and so it produces protein-rich beans covered in pods which can be used for human or animal nutrition. The leaves and branches can be used as fodder. Besides the agricultural aspects, Erythrina edulis can also be used as a fence plant.
Crotalaria cunninghamii, also known as green birdflower, birdflower ratulpo, parrot pea or regal birdflower, is a plant of the legume family Fabaceae, named Crotalaria after the Greek word for rattle, because their seeds rattle, and cunninghamii after early 19th century botanist Allan Cunningham. Crotalaria cunninghamii is known as Mangarr to the Nyangumarta Warrarn Indigenous group.
Crotalaria novae-hollandiae, known commonly as the New Holland rattlepod, is a species of flowering plant that is native to Australia.
Gynura bicolor, hongfeng cai 紅鳳菜, Okinawan spinach or edible gynura, is a member of the chrysanthemum family (Asteraceae). It is native to China, Thailand, and Myanmar but grown in many other places as a vegetable and as a medicinal herb.
Crotalaria retusa is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by various common names including devil-bean, rattleweed, shack shack, and wedge-leaf rattlepod. It is poisonous to livestock, and contaminates human food. Its original native range is unclear, probably including tropical Asia, Africa and Australia. It has been introduced as a crop plant in many tropical areas and has escaped from cultivation to become a troublesome weed; it is listed as a noxious weed in several US states, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and is listed as an invasive weed in India, Cuba, and Cocos Island. Unlike some other species of Crotalaria, it is an annual plant.
Crotalaria pallida, commonly known as the smooth crotalaria, is a species of flowering plant within the family Fabaceae.
Monocrotaline (MCT) is a pyrrolizidine alkaloid that is present in plants of the Crotalaria genus. These species can synthesise MCT out of amino acids and can cause liver, lung and kidney damage in various organisms. Initial stress factors are released intracellular upon binding of MCT to BMPR2 receptors and elevated MAPK phosphorylation levels are induced, which can cause cancer in Homo sapiens. MCT can be detoxified in rats via oxidation, followed by glutathione-conjugation and hydrolysis.
