GARDEN BEANS CULTIVATED AS ESCULENTS. 
BY H. C. IRISH. 
In entering upon a study of garden beans in 1898, all 
procurable varieties catalogued by leading seed firms of 
America and Europe were grown at the Missouri Botan- 
ical Garden during that and the two succeeding years. 
Habit of growth and other varietal characters were care- 
fully noted in the field each year. These, together with 
the seed characters, have been brought together and 
classified. The varieties studied are here grouped under 
five genera which are distinguished from each other mostly 
by technical characters as follows: — 
PuHasrouus. Plants subglabrous, suberect, dwarf or 
twining 10-15 ft. Leaves trifoliolate; leaflets entire, 
broadly ovate, often oblique. Corolla exserted much be- 
yond the calyx; keel prolonged spirally into a long beak; 
petals unequal; style twisted with the beak, bearded below 
the stigma, the latter obtuse; stamens diadelphous. Pods 
not jointed nor constricted between the seeds, the latter 
with a conspicuous hilum. 
Douicnuos. Petals nearly equal in length; keel narrow 
and bent at right angles. Otherwise like Phaseolus. 
Viena. Leaflets sometimes slightly lobed. Keel trun- 
cated and, in the group to which the species here mentioned 
belong, shorter thanin Phaseolus. Pods linear, subterete. 
Otherwise like Phaseolus. 
GuiycinE. Plants conspicuously covered with reddish 
brown hairs throughout. Leaflets large and thin as in 
Phaseolus. Flowers small; corolla slightly exserted be- 
yond the calyx, petals about equal in length; stamens mon- 
adelphous. Pods jointed or constricted between the seeds. 
Vicra. Plants subglabrous, quite erect, few-branched. 
Stem and branches quadrangular, more or less striate. 
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