Botanical Name - Mucuna prurita/Mucuna pruriens Category - Medicinal Form - Dry Part Used - Seeds General Information - The genus Mucuna, belonging to the Fabaceae family, sub family Papilionaceae, includes approximately 150 species of annual and perennial legumes. Among the various under-utilized wild legumes, the velvet bean Mucuna pruriens is widespread in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. Mucuna pruriens (Fabaceae) is an established herbal drug used for the management of male infertility, nervous disorders, and also as an aphrodisiac. It has been shown that its seeds are potentially of substantial medicinal importance. The ancient Indian medical system, Ayurveda, traditionally used M. pruriens, even to treat such things as Parkinson's disease. M. pruriens has been shown to have anti-parkinson and neuroprotective effects, which may be related to its anti-oxidant activity. Phytochemicals - "Mucuna spp. have been reported to contain the toxic compounds L-dopa and hallucinogenic tryptamines, and anti-nutritional factors such as phenols and tannins . Due to the high concentrations of L-dopa (4 - 7%), velvet bean is a commercial source of this substance, used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. The toxicity of unprocessed velvet bean may explain why the plant exhibits low susceptibility to insect pests. Velvet bean is well known for its nematicidic effects; it also reportedly possesses notable allelopathic activity, which may function to suppress competing plants. Despite its toxic properties, various species of Mucuna are grown as a minor food crop. Raw velvet bean seeds contain approximately 27% protein and are rich in minerals. During the 18th and 19th centuries, Mucuna was grown widely as a green vegetable in the foothills and lower hills of the eastern Himalayas and in Mauritius. Both the green pods and the mature beans were boiled and eaten. In Guatemala and Mexico, M. pruriens has for at least several decades been roasted and ground to make a coffee substitute; the seeds are widely known in the region as Nescafe in recognition of this use."