7 
82 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 
Leaflets 5-7, ovate-elliptical, smooth, abruptly and equally 
pointed, entire. Flowers white with purplish violet mark- 
ings. Pods $-1 in. thick, 3-7 in. long or more. Seed | 
flattened and dented, variously colored. 
Linnaeus gave distinct specific names to the climbing and 
dwarf varieties, as did DeCandolle. The latter also added 
several names based on the different forms of seed. The 
strictly dwarf forms easily and freely produce runners under 
changed conditions, and the forms of seed so completely 
merge into each other that it does not appear justifiable to 
separate even botanical varieties onthem. At least twenty- 
five specific names and numerous botanical varieties have 
been recorded which are evidently synonymous with the 
different species as I now understand them. 
The work of von Martens* is evidently the only effort 
heretofore made to monograph garden beans. His work is 
confined to the genus Phaseolus, all forms known to him 
being grouped under seven species and 120 botanical varie- 
ties, exclusive of the ‘fire beans’’ (Phaseolus multiflorus 
and its four botanical varieties). In 1882 and 1883, Wing t 
described many forms as grown at Geneva, N. Y., during 
those years, and devised a scheme for classifying the varie- 
ties of Phaseolus vulgaris. A few varieties of Dolichos, 
Vigna and Glycine are also briefly noted. 
Phaseolus vulgaris and P. multiflorus have never been 
found wild, but the best authorities generally concede them 
to be native of South America though formerly supposed to 
have been wild inSouthern Asia. P.lunatus macrocarpushas 
been found wild in Brazil. Dolichos sesquipedalis is a native 
of the West Indies and Tropical America, D. Lablab of India, 
Vigna and Glycine of Japan, and Vicia Faba of Africa, the 
latter being one of the oldest vegetables in cultivation. 
The classification of varieties is based primarily on the 
form of seed, which appears as constant as color or plant 
* Geo. von Martens, Die Gartenbohnen. (1860). 
+ Rept. N. Y. Exp. Sta. 189-119, (1882). —2 3 235-259. (1883). 
