Science: Miracle Plant

Any one for winged beans?

A few years ago, Noel Vietmeyer, a staff director of the National Academy of Sciences, was surprised to find in a collection of reports on tropical plants one with a curious title: "Psophocarpus tetragonolobus: Crop with a Future?" Neither Vietmeyer nor any other agriculture scientist would be surprised today. For the plant, better known as "the winged bean" because of the four winglike flanges on its pod, is now regarded as a great green hope among the experts who worry about new food sources for the overpopulated and underdeveloped...

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