Bambara Groundnut

The Bambara groundnut, Vigna subterranea, is a legume of the family Fabaceae named for the Bambara people of Mali, whose pods ripen underground through geocarpy in the same way peanuts do. It originated in West Africa, in the area now covering Nigeria, Cameroon and the Central African Republic, where it was domesticated by local communities centuries ago, and it is considered the third most important leguminous crop, after peanut and cowpea, in the African countries where it is grown, and the third most important grain legume in semi-arid Africa overall. It is mainly cultivated, sold and processed by women as a subsistence crop, tolerates high temperatures and marginal soils where other legumes cannot grow, and its pods are eaten fresh, boiled or ground into puddings.