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Cochliasanthus caracalla

Botanic Family

Leguminosae

Author

(Linnaeus) Trew

Common Names

• Snail Flower
• Corkscrew Flower
• Snail Bean
• Snail Vine
• Caracol
• Bertoni Bean
• Moodu-mae

Geographical Habitats

• N. Argentina
• Bolivia
• Bahia
• Paraná
• Santa Catarina - Brazil
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• Ecuador
• El Salvador
• French Guiana
• Mexico
• Nicaragua
• Panama
• Paraguay
• Peru
• Uruguay

Natural Habitats

• Streamside
• shrubland
• forest
• disturbed areas
• coastal
• forest edge. Edible beans
• used as pulse crop

Flowering Times

• Summer to Autumn Jan
• Feb
• Mar
• Apr
• May
• Jun
• Jul
• Sep
• Oct
• Nov

Fruiting Times

• Feb
• Sep

Evergreen herbaceous perennial twiner with trifoliate leaves, leaflets to 100mm x 50mm. Racemes of scented 50mm white to yellow & purple coiled flowers, 4-lobed calyx, contorted banner & keel coiled up to 7 times. 200mm x 15mm green glabrate torulose beans turning brown

Further References

• Menninger 1970
• Bailey 1976
• Herklots 1976
• van der Spuy 1976
• Huxley 1992
• Nicholls 1995
• RHS A-Z
• Mobot
• NYBG
• Llamas 2003
• Neotrop
• FB
• The Plant List 2
• Botanicus
• FOPE