Dolichos - A Tropical Alien

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Tropical perennial vines in the Russian climate are grown as annual legumes that quickly grow green mass, giving flowers with a light aroma and edible fruits. In addition, like other plants from the legume family, they enrich the soil with nitrogen

Dolichos

The Greek word "dolichos" (Latin transcription - dolichos) stretches from time immemorial. In 720 BC, this word was used to name one of the types of competitions in the Olympic Games, which means "Long Run".

It was long because the "distance running" (stadium) assumed the length of the treadmill at 192 meters (this was the length of the stadium), and the "long run" stretched for 1344 meters. That is, in order to overcome the “long run” distance, the athlete had to run 7 times from one end to the other end of the stadium, turning around the established pole at the end of the track.

Perhaps it was this lengthened Olympic distance that was recalled by the botanist-athlete who gave the name to the genus of plants, when he watched how quickly a tropical vine gains height, reaching 10 meters in favorable conditions. Of course, 10 meters cannot be compared with 1344 meters, but for a fragile plant that is forced to spend its entire life in one place, this is, you see, a big record.

Dolichos ordinary

Common dolichos, cultivated in Europe and in our country, as an ornamental annual, botanists decided to isolate from the Dolichos genus into an independent genus of the Legume family - Lobia, which has many synonyms.

Therefore, under such names as: Egyptian beans, Hyacinth beans, Dolichos lablab, one and the same herbaceous plant, which most often loves to curl along a support, is hidden. Nature and breeders have done a great job creating many forms and varieties of the plant.

Among the familiar to us representatives of the legume family, Dolichos ordinary differs in the length of the whips, reaching 5-6 meters; enviable bushiness created by generously formed side shoots.

At the same time, he has a lot in common with other relatives, especially with beans. The shape of the leaves, the aroma of leguminous pods, the different color of the seeds depending on the variety - why are not all familiar beans?

The pod bob is pale green to bright purple in color. And the seeds nestled inside the bean can be very different: white, red, brown, black, or have a white scar. Wild plant species have variegated seeds.

Flowers, ranging from white to reddish or blue, gather in racemose inflorescences, also resembling bean inflorescences.

Eating

Since ancient times, all parts of the plant have been consumed by humans for food, and also served as feed for livestock.

Roots, leaves, flowers, young legumes, green and ripe seeds - everything was good for food.

But the beans and seeds must be boiled before use, changing the water several times. The fact is that in their raw form they contain cyanogenic glycosides that are toxic to the human body.

As for the flowers and leaves, they are eaten raw or steamed. The roots are boiled or baked in the oven.

In Asian cuisine, plant seeds are used to make "tofu" (a subtle flavored bean curd that can be soft or hard) and "tempeh" (a protein soy product that replaces meat for vegetarians).

Growing

Since the plant comes from warm edges, we grow it either through seedlings in order to have time to get our own seeds, or they are sown directly into open ground in May to a depth of 5 cm.

Dolichos needs a fertile soil, loose, with neutral acidity. The landing site should be exposed to sunlight.

Regular watering is required at the beginning of growth and during the dry season of summer.