1. A climbing or sprawling annual legume native to Africa, widely cultivated for its edible beans, animal fodder, and soil improvement
   "cowpea plants thrive in the hot summers of the American South";
   - cowpea, black-eyed pea [N. Amer], Vigna unguiculata, Vigna sinensis, black-eyed bean [Brit], black-eye bean [Brit]

Type of: legume, leguminous plant

Part of: genus Vigna, Vigna