蚕豆 can dou

Faba vulgaris Moench.

Herbs annual, 30-120 cm tall. Stem erect, thick, glabrous. Leaves paripinnate; stipules hastate or triangular-ovate, 10-25 mm, margin slightly toothed; leaflets 1-5-paired, oblong, ellip­tic, or obovate, 40-60(-100) × 15-40 mm, glabrous, apex mu­cronate; tendril absent, replaced by a mucro. Flowers 2-4(-6) in axillary fascicles. Calyx campanulate, unequally toothed. Corolla white with purple veins, 20-35 mm; standard con­stricted at middle, longer than wings; wings longer than keel. Ovary sessile, linear; ovules 2-4(-6). Legume stout, 50-100 × 20-30 mm, tomentose. Seeds 2-4(-6), oblong, compressed, 8-30 mm. Fl. and fr. Mar-Sep. 2n = 12, 14.

Cultivated; near sea level to 3700 m. Throughout China [widely cultivated elsewhere; of cultivated origin].

The seeds (broad beans, fava beans) are edible.