PACHYRHIZUS (from pachys, thick, and rhiza, a root; alluding to the thick, tuberous roots of the plants). SYNS. Cacara and Taeniocarpum. ORD. Leguminosae. A genus comprising a couple of species of tall, stove, twining herbs, one a native of Mexico, and the other widely spread throughout the warmer parts of Asia and America, and occurring also in tropical Africa. Flowers violet-blue, in clusters, on large, glandular knobs; standard broad, obovate; keel incurved, obtuse. Leaves pinnate, trifoliolate, stipellate; leaflets often angular or sinuate-lobed. Stems rising from large, tuberous roots. L. angulatus, the species introduced to cultivation, thrives in a light, rich soil. Propagated by cuttings, inserted in sand, under a glass; by the tubers of the roots; or by seeds. PACHYRHIZUS angulatus (angular). fl. purple, in long racemes. July. l., leaflets angular, sharp-toothed. Tropics, 1781. Cultivated in the tropics for its large, Turnip-like, tuberous roots, which are eaten either raw or boiled.