Snail Flower (Vigna caracalla)

Tender late-summer to fall flowering vine
Description: Clusters of highly fragrant, white and purple flowers flushed with creamy yellow. Buds resemble a corkscrew or snail.
Habit: Vines grow to 20 feet in summer or year-round in a greenhouse.
Culture: Prefers full sun to very light shade and rich, well-drained soil with some organic matter; can be grown in a container.
PLEASE NOTE: this vine requires a long growing season to become established before setting buds and blooming. Tubers overwintered indoors in a manner similar to dahlia tubers will flower earlier the following season.
Hardiness: USDA Zones 9 through 10
Origin: South America
Attributes: Fragrant flowers
Jefferson Documented

In 1792, Thomas Jefferson wrote to Benjamin Hawkins, “The most beautiful bean in the world is the Caracalla bean which, though in England a greenhouse plant, will grow in the open air in Virginia and Carolina.” Imported from tropical South America, it was being grown in American gardens by the 1830s, when Robert Buist wrote in The American Flower Garden Directory, “Snail-Flower is a very curious blooming plant, with flowers … all spirally twisted, in great profusion when the plant is grown well.” This spectacular flower was popular in florists’ corsages by the late 19th-century.

Arrives in a 1 quart pot.

The Corskscrew Vine, Snail Vine, or Caracalla Bean produces clusters of fragrant white and lavender coiling buds and flowers which fade to a creamy yellow before dropping. The Snail Vine is a vigorous climber that grows from a tuberous root that it can return from in mild winter climates. The late summer and fall blooming flowers attract a variety of pollinators, particularly larger bees.