Rhynchosia precatoria
Rosary Snoutbean
Family: Fabaceae
This is a small to medium vine reaching about 12’ tall or so, with twines with its new growth weaving itself through the trellis. Yellow pea-shaped flowers are followed by pods that split open to reveal the very pretty black and bright red seeds.
Plant in part to full sun, but maybe avoid a south-facing reflective wall that cooks all day long. Hardiness isn’t fully tested but can be damaged in the 20s°F., though regrows from the base readily.
Mainly the attractive red and black beans are used artisanally, as for making bracelets and necklaces. In Mexican traditional medicine the Mayo people in northwestern Mexico have used aqueous infusions of the plant for respiratory illness and inflammations; the infusions have shown anti-inflammatory clinical results.
Rhynchosia precatoria occurs from the southern parts of the US states of Arizona and Florida, south through the moister parts of Mexico and possibly through Central America into Colombia in South America.
The genus name Rhynchosia is derived from the Greek rhynchos, which means "beak, or snout," alluding to the shape of the "keel" of the genus's papilionaceous flowers, like a boat's keel. With one of this species' common names being Rosary Snoutbean, one wonders whether the species name precatoria could be based on the Latin verb precari, meaning "to pray, beg, beseech," etc., which might come to mind of someone who has seen Rhynchosia preatoria beans used as prayer beads.