Plant · P-242

Moth Bean

Vigna aconitifolia

Moth bean, known in India as matki, is the most heat-and-drought-adapted food plant in this group by a wide margin: it thrives at the tail end of the hot season after other crops have already failed, tolerates daytime highs to 45C, and can make a crop on as little as two inches of rain spread across three or four showers. It grows as a prostrate creeping mat that covers ground fast without rooting into a permanent stand, so it doubles as erosion control on a raw slope or berm. Both the immature pods and the mature seed are eaten, cooked into dal or milled for flatbread, though the seed needs soaking, cooking or a short pressure-cook to break down several natural inhibitors first. Its straw stays palatable after the seed harvest, which makes livestock feed a genuine second yield rather than leftover residue.