Abstract

                                There are two varieties of Dolichos lablab, one the climbing variety commonly grown in the kitchen garden for its tender pods, and the other the field variety cultivated on the dry lands, as a mixture with millets and whose seeds only serve as a pulse food for man. The former is known as Avarai (Tamil) or Chikkudu (Telugu) and the latter as Mochai or Anumulu. These are similar to the "snap" and "shell" varieties in the pea (Pisum sativum) and in the French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). Between the two varieties of lablab many marked differences exist, morphological as well as physiological, but those that concern the cultivators.

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