Canavalia ensiformis(L.) DC.

wonderbeanjack bean

WFO wfo-0000189815 Accepted WFO 2026-06 5 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–e · 1 observation

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 1 time, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Canavalia ensiformis, photographed by Siddarth Machado
fig. a Siddarth Machado, CC BY 4.0 / 2017-11-02 / obs. 65983706
Canavalia ensiformis, photographed by Siddarth Machado
fig. b Siddarth Machado, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 65983704
Canavalia ensiformis, photographed by Siddarth Machado
fig. c Siddarth Machado, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 65983665
Canavalia ensiformis, photographed by Siddarth Machado
fig. d Siddarth Machado, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 65983692
Canavalia ensiformis, photographed by Siddarth Machado
fig. e Siddarth Machado, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 65983675

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 32 botanical countries

Regions where Canavalia ensiformis is native: Alabama, Arizona, District of Columbia, Georgia, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Southeast, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Uruguay, Windward Is. AlabamaArizonaGeorgiaMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestMississippiMissouriOklahomaArgentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestBelizeBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil SoutheastColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicHaitiHondurasJamaicaPanamáParaguayPeruPuerto RicoTrinidad-TobagoUruguay District of ColumbiaLeeward Is.Windward Is.
Native distribution of Canavalia ensiformis, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Argentina Northwest AGW
Belize BLZ
Bolivia BOL
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Southeast BZL
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Panamá PAN
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Uruguay URU
Windward Is. WIN
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Arizona ARI
District of Columbia WDC
Georgia GEO
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS
Mississippi MSI
Missouri MSO
Oklahoma OKL

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 17 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Canavalia ensiformis var. albida DC.
  • Canavalia ensiformis var. coriacea Domin
  • Canavalia ensiformis var. normalis Kuntze
  • Canavalia ensiformis var. truncata Ricker
  • Canavalia gladiata f. leucocarpa Taub.
  • Canavalia gladiata var. leucosperma Voigt
  • Canavalia stocksii Dalzell & A.Gibson
  • Dolichos acinaciformis Jacq.
  • Dolichos cienskowskii Schweinf. & Asch.
  • Dolichos cultratus Wight ex Steud.
  • Dolichos ensiformis L.
  • Dolichos mutabilis Salisb.
  • Dolichos pugioniformis Raeusch.
  • Dolichos pugioniformis Rauschert
  • Malocchia ensiformis Savi
  • Phaseolus virosus Bojer
  • Psophocarpus cienkowskii Schweinf. ex Baker f.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.