Are the seeds green, or black? The green gram (Vigna radiata) is the most commonly used here. You can sprout them, or make a thick bean soup from the dry beans.

The plants are usually sprawling bushes, similar in habit to cowpeas, to which they are closely related. Pods are borne in clusters of 4-6 (sometimes more), are 3-6" long, and turn black or dark brown when dry. The immature pods are tiny, fibrous, and pretty much inedible.

While I was happy with the flavor of fresh-grown mung beans, the plants are space hogs, and the small pods can be difficult to locate in the dense foliage.

The seeds are a dark red color, like the color of a kidney bean.

The seeds are a dark red color, like the color of a kidney bean.

Then they are not mung beans. They are most likely adzuki beans (Vigna agularis).

There is a slight possibility that they could also be rice beans (Vigna umbellata), if the seed is from a tropical source. The two seeds look very similar; rice beans have a longer hilum scar. Rice beans will not grow successfully in our Northern latitudes, since they are daylength sensitive, and will not bloom until mid-September.

The adzuki beans that I have grown were more of a true bush habit than the mung beans, with little sprawling. They have attractive flowers, usually bright yellow. You can get a good yield from them; at 6" spacing between plants, the dry seed averaged over one ounce per plant. Very easy to shell, too... the dry pods shatter easily.

Like most Vignas, adzuki germinate quickly in warm soil - in as little as 3 days. In cooler soils, it can take longer. I generally germinate them in pots indoors, then put them outside into full sunlight immediately. The seedlings become leggy very quickly under artificial lights.

Thanks so much Zeedman. I did a little research before posting, but could only find info about Green & Black Mung beans. I was a little confused. I know why now!