Vigna caracalla
-- Snail Vine, Corkscrew Vine -- A vigorous subtropical vine
with very distinctive snail shell flowers in tight, foot-long clusters
from midsummer through fall. Flowers are light purple, and may be marked
with white and yellow. Does nicely in a sunroom container, where it
will stay relatively small, or outdoors in the warmest zones, where
it may twine to 20 feet or more, depending on the length and warmth
of the season. Or, it can be grown outside during the warm months, then
cut back, brought indoors, and treated as a houseplant. Bloom is quite
fragrant as well as attractive, interesting, and long-lasting. Nurseries
have been known to tout this as the latest, greatest thing, but it was
admired by Thomas Jefferson and grown in his Monticello vegetable
gardens, because it produces an edible bean. South America.
