proceedings: botanical society 215 



and Large California Whites; and (3) the southwestern region from 

 western Texas to southern Cahfornia, and extending into the moun- 

 tains through Colorado. The varieties here are old native types of 

 beans long cultivated by the Indians, the best known being the Pinto 

 and California Pinks. Besides these there are Bayos, Mexican Reds, 

 and Mexican Whites. This region is the one where production is on 

 the most rapid increase at present, and where expansion can be almost 

 imlimited since beans are grown both as a dry-land crop and under 

 irrigation. 



The Lima bean is grown commercially only in the southern part of 

 California along the coast. Scarlet Runner beans are grown only in 

 the northern part of the United States, and then only in gardens. 



Tepary beans are better adapted to dry-land farming than are other 

 species. They are fairly salable. They are found growing wild in 

 some of the mountain ranges of southern Arizona, and are a recently 

 discovered part of the aboriginal agriculture of this region. 



W. E. Safford: Economic Phaseoli of the ancient AmericauH (with 

 lantern) . The origin of the. edible species of Phaseolus was for a long 

 time held to be doubtful. Writers on cultivated plants who relied 

 upon the testimony of early explorers and colonists were not convinced 

 that they were all American. The most convincing testimony is that 

 offered by actual specimens from prehistoric graves, burial mounds, 

 and cave dwellings. The writer was fortunate during his explorations 

 in vSouth America in finding excellent specimens of Phaseolus vulgaris 

 and Phaseolus lutmtus from graves on the coast of Peru. During the 

 recent Pan-American Scientific Congress he made an exhibition in the 

 National Museum of the food plants, textiles, aromatic, narcotic, and 

 other economic plants of this continent, which included several distinct 

 varieties of beans. Among them were Phaseolus vulgaris, Phaseolus 

 lunatus, and Phaseolus coccineus. None of the last-named was found in 

 South America; but on the other hand, a number of smooth globose 

 beans called tchui, or chuvi, by the Quichua Indians were taken from 

 graves at Ancon, and it is possible that these may be specifically dis- 

 tinct from Phaseolus vulgaris. In one net of a peculiar shape, which 

 may be likened to a three-fingered glove, at least eight varieties of 

 beans were found, including four kinds of "purutus" (Phaseolus vul- 

 garis), three kinds of "pallares" (Phaseolus lunatus), and the spheroid 

 'tchuis" already mentioned. In the same net specimens of cotton 

 seed were also found. 



Padre Cobo mentions the fact that the round beans called tchui, 

 often beautifully colored, were used by the ancient Quichuas in playing 

 certam games. In Mexico the variously colored beans of Phaseolus 

 coccineus were somewhat similarly used by the Aztecs, who called the 

 beans, ''avacotli," or "ayecotli," and the game of chance played with 

 them ''patolli." The fleshy root of this bean, called "cimatl," was 

 used by them medicinally. The white variety of Phaseolus coccineus 

 "iztacayacotli," now called ayacote bianco or patol bianco, has been 

 frequently mistaken for Phaseolus lunatus, and it is one form of this 

 variety which, under the name of "Aztec bean," has been exploited as 

 a discovery in an ancient cave dwelling of our Southwest. As a matter 



