Bai bian dou

Semen Lablab Album (Baibiandou) White Hyacinth Bean White Hyacinth Bean is the dried ripe seed of Dolichos lablab L. (Fam. Leguminosae). The fruit is collected in autumn and winter when ripe, dried in the sun, and the seed is gathered, and dried again in the sun. Description Flattened-ellipsoidal or flattened-ovoid, 8-13 mm long, 6-9 mm wide, about 7 mm thick. Externally pale yellowish-white or pale yellow, smooth, somewhat lustrous, with a white, prominent, eyebrow-shaped caruncle at the edge of one side. Texture hard. Testa thin and brittle, cotyledones 2, plump, yellowish-white. Odour, slight; taste, weak, bean-like on chewing. Identification Transverse section: Epidermis of 1 layer of palisade cells, 2 layers at hilum, light bend distinct. Supporting cells of 1 layer, dumbell-shaped, 3-5 layers at hilum. Parenchyma of 10 layers of cells, located under supporting cells, the inner ones obiterate. Cells of cotylodons containing numerous starch granules. The outer part of palisade cell