Vicia faba


Vicia fabaCommon Name: Favabean
Description
Vicia faba, also known as the broad bean, fava bean, faba bean, field bean, bell bean, English bean, horse bean, Windsor bean, pigeon bean and tic(k) bean, is a species of flowering plant in the vetch and pea family Fabaceae. The origin of this legume is obscure, but it had been cultivated in the Middle East for 8,000 years before it spread to Western Europe. Fava or Broad beans have been found in the earliest human settlements. Remains are reported to have been found in Egyptian tombs.[citation needed] They probably originated in the Near East during the Neolithic Age and by the Bronze Age had spread to Northern Italy. They have been found in lakeside settlements in Switzerland and in Britain at Glastonbury. In Egypt, the beans were considered commoner food and were shunned by the upper classes. Fava beans were cultivated by the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. In ancient Rome, they were used in funeral rites. Pythagoras forbade the eating of fava beans because they contained the souls of the dead. This once forbidden  . . . . .Read more 

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Cucumis metuliferus


Cucumis metuliferusCommon Name: Horned Melon
Description
Cucumis metuliferus, horned melon or kiwano, also African horned cucumber or melon, jelly melon, hedged gourd, melano, in the southeastern United States, blowfish fruit, is an annual vine in the cucumber and melon family, Cucurbitaceae. Its fruit has horn-like spines, hence the name “horned melon”. Ripe fruit has yellow-orange skin and lime green, jelly-like flesh with a tart taste, and texture similar to a cucumber. C. metuliferus is native to Sub-Saharan Africa. It is now grown in California, Mississippi, Chile, Australia, and New Zealand. . . . .Read more

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Chrysophyllum cainito


ChrysophyllumCommon Name: Star apple
Description 
Chrysophyllum is a group of trees in the Sapotaceae described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753.The genus is native to tropical regions throughout the world, with the greatest number of species in northern South America. One species, C. oliviforme, extends north to southern Florida.
Chrysophyllum members are usually tropical trees, often growing rapidly to 10–20 m or more in height. The leaves are oval, 3–15 cm long, green above, densely golden pubescent below, from which the genus is named. The flowers are small (3–8 mm), purplish white and . . .Read more

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Vitex doniana


Chocolate berriesCommon Name:Chocolate berries
Description
Vitex doniana is a medium-sized deciduous tree, 8-18 m high, with a heavy rounded crown and a clear bole up to 5 m. Bark rough, pale brown or greyish-white, rather smooth with narrow vertical fissures. The bases of old trees have oblong scales.
Leaves opposite, glabrous, 14-34 cm long, usually with 5 leaflets on stalks 6-14 cm long. Leaflets distinctly stalked, ovate, obovate-elliptic or oblong, entire, 8-22 cm long, 2-9 cm wide. Leaf tips rounded or emarginate, leaf bases cuneate. Dark green above, pale greyish-green below, thickly leathery, with a few scattered stellate hairs on the upper surface, otherwise without hairs.. .…Read more
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