Prickly Sesban (Sesbania bispinosa)

Family: Fabaceae | Edibility: Edible (2/5)

Sesbania bispinosa, also known as Prickly Seban, is an annual small shrub native to Asia and North Africa. Growing about 1-2 m tall, some up to 7 m, it has fibrous stems, long leaves, and purple-spotted yellow flowers. It can either be branched and spreading or tall and straight. It is vigorous and has great weed potential especially in rice paddy fields. The flowers are eaten as vegetables. Mature seeds can also be cooked.

Edible Parts & Harvest Seasons

Edible Parts: Nuts/Seeds

Harvest Seasons: Fall, Late Summer

Flavor & Culinary Uses

Mature seeds - cooked. Mainly used in times of famine. — Mature seeds - cooked.; Mainly used in times of famine.

Habitat & North American Range

Marshes, ditches, river margins; also a weed in cultivations on alluvial land, especially in rice fields; often in saline areas; flood-plains, seasonally inundated depressions, sandbanks of brackish lagoons; occasionally in open miombo woodland. (Zone 10)