Stock Photo - Mucuna Prurita. Family: Fabaceae. Latin Nane: Mucuna pruriens. Mucuna pruriens (sin. Dolichos pruriens). English Names: Cow_Itch Plant, Cowhage. Sanskrit Names: Kapikachhu, Atmagupta. Hindi Names: Kaunch, Kevanch. This bean_like climber has pods which are covered with thousands of tiny hair. These hair cause tremendous itching and irritation when they come in contact with skin. The plant is also used as an aphrodisiac. It Grows All Over India. Mucuna pruriens is an herbaceous twining annual. The leaves are trifoliolate; the leaflets, broadly ovate, elliptic or rhomboid ovate and unequal at the base; the flowers, purple and in axillary, pendulous racemes; the pods, curved, longitudinally ribbed, turgid and densely clothed with persistent pale brown or grey, irritant bristles; the seeds, black, 4_6 in a pod and ovoid. It has been found to contain L_DOPA. The plant/seeds contain the bioactive alkaloids mucunine, mucunadine, pruriendine and nicotine. The seeds with seed coat showed the presence of a number of bioactive substances including tryptamine, alkylamines, steroids, flevonoids, coumarins, cardenolides, etc. Chiplun, Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, India.