Vigna
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! align="center" bgcolor=lightgreen | Cowpeas
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! align="center" bgcolor=lightgreen | Scientific classification
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| align=left | Kingdom: || Plantae
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|| Division: || Magnoliophyta
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|| Class: || Magnoliopsida
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|| Order: || Fabales
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|| Family: || Fabaceae
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|| Subfamily: || Faboideae
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|| Genus: || Vigna Savi
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! align="center" bgcolor="lightgreen" | Species
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see text
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The cowpeas are the genus Vigna in the plant family Fabaceae. They include some well-known and not so well known bean species formerly included in the genus Phaseolus.
ITIS accepts 20 species, some of them with several subspecies. Many of them have common names including the word "cowpea". Used on its own, however, "cowpea" refers either to the genus as a whole or to the black-eyed pea Vigna unguiculata spp. dekindtiana.
Examples of Vigna species include:
- V. acontifolia moth bean
- V. angularis azuki or adzuki bean
- V. mungo urd bean or urd
- V. radiata mung bean, green gram
- V. subterranea Bambarra groundnut
- V. umbellata rice bean
- V. unguiculata
- V. unguiculata spp. cylindrica Catjang
- V. unguiculata spp. dekindtiana Black-eyed pea
- V. unguiculata spp. sesquipedalis Yardlong bean
- V. unguiculata spp. unguiculata Southern pea
- V. vexillata zombi pea
