(Phaseolus aureus), a species of annual herbaceous plants of the Phaseolus genus of the Leguminosae (pea) family. It originated from the wild species P. sublobatus. There are three subspecies—ssp. indicus, ssp. chinensis, and ssp. Iranicus.
The mung bean is 25-100 cm tall and very hairy, with a ramose stem that is erect, decumbent, or procumbent, and a taproot. The leaves are alternate, trifoliolate, and green. The flowers are golden yellow, growing in short racemes. The pods (beans) are narrow and cylindrical; they may be straight or curved, are 8-15 cm long, and contain seven to ten seeds. The ripe pods are nearly black. The seeds are rounded and cylindrical or barrel-shaped and may be green, yellow, or brown; 1,000 seeds weigh 25-80 g. The growing period for early ripening varieties in the USSR (such as Pobeda 104) is 80-100 days. The plants are heat- and moisture-loving. The seeds contain 24-28 percent protein, 46-50 percent starch, 2-4 percent oil, and vitamins. Mung beans are used as food in the form of groats, and the green beans and blanched sprouts are used as vegetables. The foliage is dried, ensiled, and plowed under as green manure; the straw and chaff are fed to livestock.
The mung bean is native to Southwest Asia, where it was first cultivated 5,000-6,000 years ago. Currently it is grown in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Burma, China, Vietnam, Japan, and elsewhere. In the USSR it is grown in Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasia, and southern Kazakhstan (in small fields), using irrigation; it is planted in the spring or after the harvest. The seed yield of the mung bean is 10-16 centners per hectare; the foliage yield, up to 200 centners per hectare.
N. R. IVANOV