Post by utopiate on Jan 31, 2009 21:47:37 GMT -5
Cultivated only by the ancient Balinese, and now a nearly forgotten crop maintained by a few old farmers. Vigna vexillata (cultivated form).
[img src="http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/2672/jempirangancollectionbaxz0.jpg"![]()
By utopiate, shot with Canon PowerShot A700 at 2009-01-31][/img]
Grows ok in a greenhouse, much like a mid-size pole bean, but it needs the short days of the tropics for flowering and tuberization.
Something like a jicama, but starchier, not so watery, and cooked before eating. Tubers here have fused together from a multi-lobed form. I may try to seed some by shortening the daylight exposure, but I am wondering if these might grow in the southern part of the USA. They mature over a fairly short season for a tropical legume. Beans, pods, and tender new growth are also edible, but mainly it is grown for the tuber.
By utopiate, shot with Canon PowerShot A700 at 2009-01-31
Jempirang on left, wild forms of Vigna Vexillata on right. The plant would be flowering and tuberizing at this stage if the nights were long enough.
[img src="http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/2672/jempirangancollectionbaxz0.jpg"
By utopiate, shot with Canon PowerShot A700 at 2009-01-31][/img]
Grows ok in a greenhouse, much like a mid-size pole bean, but it needs the short days of the tropics for flowering and tuberization.
Something like a jicama, but starchier, not so watery, and cooked before eating. Tubers here have fused together from a multi-lobed form. I may try to seed some by shortening the daylight exposure, but I am wondering if these might grow in the southern part of the USA. They mature over a fairly short season for a tropical legume. Beans, pods, and tender new growth are also edible, but mainly it is grown for the tuber.
By utopiate, shot with Canon PowerShot A700 at 2009-01-31
Jempirang on left, wild forms of Vigna Vexillata on right. The plant would be flowering and tuberizing at this stage if the nights were long enough.
