Vigna unguiculata- An Overall Review

The plant Vigna unguiculata belongs to the family Fabaceae/Papilionaceae. It is native to India, Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. It grows upto 15-80 cm height, 3-6 inch; long, slender, round, two valved pods. These are herbaceous, erect or sub erect, climbing, prostrate. The plant is known by a variety of names, but cowpea is the most popular worldwide name. In the United states, it is called black-eyed beans, black-eyed peas or sourthern peas, whereas in Indian and Brazil, it is referred to as lobia and caupi respectively In tamil, it is called caramunnipayira/ karamani. Every part of this plant is reported to be useful, the leaves, stem, ischolar_main, legumes of carramunnipayira are edible. Vigna unguiculata contains the following constituents such as saponin, thiamine (appreciable amount), riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, pantothenic acid and also foliate. It also has small amount of iron, sodium, zinc, selenium, manganese and copper. Carramunnipayira leaves, stem, ischolar_main and legumes are used for multipurpose in many parts of India and were found to show interesting medicinal properties including diuretic activity, anti oxidant property, anti diabetic activity and anti bacterial activity. The present article summarizes review on the plant, its phytochemistry and its pharmacological activity which have been reported.