Asparagus Pea, also Winged bean / Tetragonolobus purpureus

A small ornamental plant grown as a vegetable. The maximum size of the plant is 20-25 cm. An annual, strongly bushy plant. The stems are spreading, straight, the leaves are fleshy, slightly pubescent. Flowers are dark red or purple. The fruit is a bean up to 10 cm long, quadrangular in section with wings along the ribs. Seeds are medium-sized, light brown, very hard when dried.

The root, leaves, pods, and seeds of the quad are edible and often used in salads. It tastes very similar to asparagus.

It grows well in loamy, nutritious or sandy soils, in bright light and regular watering. Needs a cool winter.

Can be grown as a pot crop.

It blooms orange-red, very showy flowers, up to 3 cm in diameter, 1-4 pcs. on a long stem. The leaves are ternary, with large lobes. After flowering, tetrahedral beans are formed.

It grows well in loamy, nutritious or sandy soils, in bright light and regular watering. Needs a cool winter.

The crop is harvested as young beans are formed. Usually, the beans are cut off when they reach 3-4 cm in length. Overgrown beans quickly darken, coarsen and become inedible, they are left for seeds. In order to harvest over a longer period, asparagus peas are sown at several times, given that it takes 2–2.5 months for the crop to mature.

Seeds ripen gradually. Ripe yellowed beans do not crack, so they can be removed whole with the plant when the bulk of the beans on it are ripe. But in rainy weather, ripe beans must be harvested early, selectively, otherwise the seeds in them begin to rot. When the beans are completely dry, the seeds are threshed. They remain viable for four years.

In their nutritional qualities, asparagus pea seeds are similar to soybeans; they have a protein high in lysine, a lot of oil with a high content of unsaturated fatty acids, and they are very rich in vitamins. Its cylindrical fleshy pods are edible when semi-ripe, and the ripe beans serve as a substitute for coffee.

Tags: decorative