Skip to content
Snail vine
Alex Lomas, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Legumes: pea and bean family

Snail vine

Cochliasanthus caracalla (L.) Trew

Names

EnglishSnail vine
Dutch—
SpanishFrijol caracol
Chinese蜗牛藤
Scientific nameCochliasanthus caracalla (L.) Trew

About this species

Cochliasanthus caracalla is a leguminous flowering plant in the family Fabaceae that originates in tropical South America and Central America. The species is named caracalla, a corruption of the Portuguese caracol, meaning snail.. Thomas Jefferson called this plant "the most beautiful bean in the world".

It is the only member of the genus Cochliasanthus and was formerly considered to belong to the genus Vigna. This perennial vine (when grown in a climate without frost) has fragrant flowers said to be reminiscent of hyacinths - with a distinctive curled shape, giving rise to the common names corkscrew vine, snail vine, snail creeper, snailflower or snail bean; however, two very different plant species are sold and cultivated under the "snail-" names, the other one being Sigmoidotropis speciosa.

Read more on Wikipedia · Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Classification

KingdomPlantae
PhylumTracheophyta
ClassMagnoliopsida
OrderFabales
FamilyFabaceae
GenusCochliasanthus

In Suriname

9Records in Suriname
1915First record
2006Latest record

Where it has been recorded

  • Sipaliwini1

Districts with at least one record that has coordinates. Shaded districts have records.

Sources & credits

Spotted a mistake or know another local name? Tell us.

Related species in Suriname