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Canavalia

Canavalia

Overview
The genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a taxonomic unit used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender" , cognate with – genos, "race, stock, kin" ..In addition, genus is a taxonomic rank in the hierarchy In biology, a genus (plural:...

 Canavalia in the large legume
Legume
In botanical writing legume is a plant in the family Fabaceae , or a fruit of these specific plants. A'legume' fruit is a simple dry fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually dehisces on two sides. A common name for this type of fruit is a pod, although "pod" is also applied to a few...

 family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus...

 (Fabaceae
Fabaceae
Fabaceae or Leguminosae is a large and economically important family of flowering plants, which is commonly known as the legume family, pea family, bean family or pulse family. The name 'Fabaceae' comes from the defunct genus Faba, now included into Vicia...

), comprises approximately 70-75 species
Species
In biology, a species is:* a taxonomic rank or* a unit at that rank ....

 of tropical origin. These vine
Vine
The term vine may refer to a climbing or trailing plant. The word, derived from Latin vīnea, in the original sense referred to the grapevines . The modern extended sense is mostly restricted to North American English, which uses "grapevine" to refer to the grape-bearing Vitis species...

s have usually bright pea-flowers which are pollinated by insect
Insect
Insects are arthropods, having a hard exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet and include more than a million species that are already described. Insects represent more than half of all...

s such as solitary bees and carpenter bee
Carpenter bee
Carpenter bees are large, hairy bees distributed worldwide. There are some 500 species of carpenter bee in 31 subgenera...

s (e.g. Xylocopa confusa).

They are commonly known as jack-beans. The species of
Canavalia endemic to the Hawaiian Islands
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of 19 islands and atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll. Excluding Midway, which is an unincorporated territory of the...

 were named āwikiwiki by the Native Hawaiians
Native Hawaiians
Native Hawaiians refers to the indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands or their descendants...

.
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Encyclopedia
The genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a taxonomic unit used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender" , cognate with – genos, "race, stock, kin" ..In addition, genus is a taxonomic rank in the hierarchy In biology, a genus (plural:...

 Canavalia in the large legume
Legume
In botanical writing legume is a plant in the family Fabaceae , or a fruit of these specific plants. A'legume' fruit is a simple dry fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually dehisces on two sides. A common name for this type of fruit is a pod, although "pod" is also applied to a few...

 family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus...

 (Fabaceae
Fabaceae
Fabaceae or Leguminosae is a large and economically important family of flowering plants, which is commonly known as the legume family, pea family, bean family or pulse family. The name 'Fabaceae' comes from the defunct genus Faba, now included into Vicia...

), comprises approximately 70-75 species
Species
In biology, a species is:* a taxonomic rank or* a unit at that rank ....

 of tropical origin. These vine
Vine
The term vine may refer to a climbing or trailing plant. The word, derived from Latin vīnea, in the original sense referred to the grapevines . The modern extended sense is mostly restricted to North American English, which uses "grapevine" to refer to the grape-bearing Vitis species...

s have usually bright pea-flowers which are pollinated by insect
Insect
Insects are arthropods, having a hard exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet and include more than a million species that are already described. Insects represent more than half of all...

s such as solitary bees and carpenter bee
Carpenter bee
Carpenter bees are large, hairy bees distributed worldwide. There are some 500 species of carpenter bee in 31 subgenera...

s (e.g. Xylocopa confusa).

They are commonly known as jack-beans. The species of
Canavalia endemic to the Hawaiian Islands
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of 19 islands and atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll. Excluding Midway, which is an unincorporated territory of the...

 were named āwikiwiki by the Native Hawaiians
Native Hawaiians
Native Hawaiians refers to the indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands or their descendants...

. That name means essentially "the very quick one" and comes from the Hawaiian
Hawaiian language
The Hawaiian language is a Polynesian language that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language of the state of Hawaii...

 word for "fast" that has also been appropriated into the name "Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its name is a portmanteau of the words wiki and encyclopedia...

".

Uses and ecology


Several species are valued legume
Legume
In botanical writing legume is a plant in the family Fabaceae , or a fruit of these specific plants. A'legume' fruit is a simple dry fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually dehisces on two sides. A common name for this type of fruit is a pod, although "pod" is also applied to a few...

 crops, including Common Jack-bean (
C. ensiformis
Canavalia ensiformis
Canavalia ensiformis, or Jack-bean, is a legume which is used for animal fodder and human nutrition, especially in Brazil where it is called feijão-de-porco . It is also the source of concanavalin A.- Description :...

), Sword Bean (C. gladiata
Canavalia gladiata
Canavalia gladiata, usually called Sword Bean, is a domesticated plant species in the legume family.The fruits are eaten as a vegetable in Africa and Asia.-External links:*...

) and C. cathartica. At least the first makes a beneficial weed- and pathogen
Pathogen
A pathogen , infectious agent, or germ, is a biological agent that causes disease or illness to its host....

-suppressing living mulch
Living mulch
In agriculture, a living mulch is a cover crop interplanted or undersown with a main crop, and intended to serve the functions of a mulch, such as weed suppression and regulation of soil temperature...

. The Common Jack-bean is also known as the plant from which Concanavalin A
Concanavalin A
Concanavalin A is a lectin protein originally extracted from the jack-bean Canavalia ensiformis. It binds specifically to certain structures found in various sugars, glycoproteins, and glycolipids, mainly internal and nonreducing terminal alpha-mannosyl groups...

 was described. This lectin
Lectin
Lectins are sugar-binding proteins which are highly specific for their sugar moieties. They typically play a role in biological recognition phenomena involving cells and proteins...

 is of major commercial importance as a reagent in glycoprotein
Glycoprotein
Glycoproteins are proteins that contain oligosaccharide chains covalently attached to their polypeptide side-chains. The carbohydrate is attached to the protein in a cotranslational or posttranslational modification. This process is known as glycosylation. In proteins that have segments extending...

 biochemistry
Biochemistry
Biochemistry is the study of the chemical processes in living organisms. It deals with the structure and function of cellular components such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids and other biomolecules....

 and immunology
Immunology
Immunology is a broad branch of biomedical science that covers the study of all aspects of the immune system in all organisms. It deals with, among other things, the physiological functioning of the immune system in states of both health and disease; malfunctions of the immune system in...

. Also, the Jack-bean is a common source of purified urease
Urease
Urease is an enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of urea into carbon dioxide and ammonia. The reaction occurs as follows:In 1926 James Sumner showed that urease is a protein...

 enzyme
Enzyme
Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process are called substrates, and the enzyme converts them into different molecules, called the products. Almost all processes in a biological cell need enzymes to occur at...

 for scientific research.

Bay Bean (Canavalia rosea
Canavalia rosea
Canavalia rosea , commonly known as beach bean, bay bean, seaside bean, coastal jackbean, or MacKenzie bean, is a vine found in tropical and subtropical beach dunes.-References:...

) supposedly is mildly psychoactive
Psychoactive drug
A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical or psychotropic substance is a chemical substance that acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it alters brain function, resulting in changes in perception, mood, consciousness and behavior...

 when smoked; it is used in tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as an organic pesticide, and in the form of nicotine tartrate it is used in some medicines. In consumption it most commonly appears in the forms of smoking, chewing, snuffing, or...

 substitutes.

Some animals have adaptation to the defensive chemicals of jack-beans. Caterpillar
Caterpillar
Caterpillars are the larval form of a member of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly phytophagous in food habit, with some species being entomophagous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered pests in agriculture...

s for example of the Two-barred Flasher (
Astraptes fulgerator) are sometimes found on Canavalia. The plant pathogenic ascomycete fungus
Fungus
A fungus is any member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. The Fungi are classified as a kingdom that is separate from plants, animals and bacteria...

 
Mycosphaerella canavaliae was described from a jack-bean. Introduced herbivore
Herbivore
A herbivore is an animal that is adapted to eat plants and not meat.Herbivory is a form of predation in which an organism consumes principally autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria....

s have wreaked havoc on
Canavalia on the Hawaiian Islands
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of 19 islands and atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll. Excluding Midway, which is an unincorporated territory of the...

 and made some nearly extinct
Extinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or group of taxa. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of that species...

; it may be that these lost their chemical defenses as no herbivorous mammal
Mammal
Mammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose females are characterized by the possession of mammary glands while both males and females are characterized by sweat glands, hair, three middle ear bones used in hearing, and a neocortex region in the brain.Mammals are divided into three main...

s existed in their range until introduced by humans.

Species



See also

  • Thierry Bardini
    Thierry Bardini
    Thierry Bardini is a French sociologist who did all his academic career outside France. He is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at the Université de Montréal, Canada, where he co-directs the Workshop in Radical Empiricism .Thierry holds a degree of "ingénieur agronome" and...

     - researched Venezuela
    Venezuela
    Venezuela , officially titled Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It is a continental mainland with numerous islands located off its coastline in the Caribbean Sea...

    n jack-bean agriculture early in his career

External links