File:Vigna unguiculata habit1.jpg

English: Introduced, warm-season, annual, climbing-bushy legume to 80 cm tall. Leaves have 3 large hairless leaflets. The central leaflet has a longer stalk than the lateral leaflets. Flowerheads are racemes of white, cream, yellow, mauve or purple, pea-like flowers. Pods are 10-23 cm long and cylindrical. Flowering is in summer and autumn. A native of West Africa, it is widely sown as summer forage or green manure crop. Better suited to lighter soils (well drained) than lablab and is poorly suited to heavy clays. It can tolerate very acid soils, but is very sensitive to frost. A fast growing, palatable, high quality, summer forage; suitable for grazing or crop rotations. Compared to lablab it, produces less biomass, is earlier maturing, is more susceptible to trampling, has poorer recovery after grazing and is susceptible to a wider range of pests and diseases. Don’t graze until the crop has reached a full canopy and a height of about 50 cm. Best regrowth is achieved if grazing is delayed until flowering and stock are removed as soon as the leafy portion of the plants has been eaten and a framework of stems still remains. Grazing or cutting lower than 15 cm will kill many plants.