216 proceedings: botanical society 



of fact, it is far inferior to the common Phaseolus lunatus, and, though 

 a good snap bean when green, it is scarcely edible when mature. 



A few specimens of Phaseolus lunatus from Peru are pure white, like 

 the common varieties of our markets; some, however, are mottled like 

 the "pataxte" of Chiapas and the "patani" of the Philippine Islands; 

 others are blackish or maroon colored or yellow and brown and brown 

 particolored. The presence of a number of distinct varieties in a single 

 prehistoric grave indicates that beans had been cultivated in Peru a 

 long time previous to the discovery. 



Phaseolus lunatus, the Lima bean, was unknown in North America 

 before the Discovery. When first seen by a certain tribe of Indians 

 they gave it a name signifying, the ''bean-that-resembles-the-ground- 

 bean." The ground-bean referred to proved to be Falcafa conwsa, 

 which, in addition to flowers of the ordinary type, yielding small pods 

 enclosing several small seeds, has apetalous flowers on slender creep- 

 ing basal branches, which bury themselves in the soil and produce 

 solitary seeds resembling Lima beans, usually mottled with purple, 

 but soft and turgid, with an outer skin which never becomes hard, but 

 shrivels on drying. These ground-beans were a food-staple not only 

 of the aboriginal inhabitants of Virginia, but also those of the river 

 valleys of the interior of our country. They are easily gathered and, 

 if cooked when fresh, have a buttery consistency and a pleasant flavor 

 not unlike that of an artichoke. 



The lantern slides exhibited included illustrations of Phaseolus vul- 

 garis and Phaseolus lunatus found in graves with Peruvian mummies 

 and in ancient Indian graves of Argentina and North America; several 

 varieties of Phaseolus cocci neus ranging from Guatemala to Mexico; 

 and fine large specimens of Falcata comosa collected near the Potomac 

 a short distance above Georgetown, together with plants from the 

 normal seeds and from the "ground-beans" referred to, the latter much 

 larger and more vigorous than the former. 



David Griffiths: Illustrations of the conspicuous groups of Opuntia 

 (with lantern). Doctor Griffiths gave an illustrated talk on the gen- 

 eral aspects of the groups of the genus Opuntia, considered in its broad- 

 est phases. The slides were selected to show the salient features of the 

 group in the most common representatives both as regards habit and 

 details, they being thrown on the screen mostly in pairs, one showing 

 details and the other habit. 



A point of special mterest has been revealed m the cultural studies 

 which have extended over a period of ten years, namely, that the 

 Clavateae commonly considered to be naked spined are in reality pos- 

 sessed of spines in scabbards similar to the Cylindropuntia, but the 

 sheaths are early deciduous and consequently not commonly seen in 

 dried specimens. This characteristic of spines in scabbards is distinctly 

 a North American trait and gives a line of cleavage other than a geo- 

 graphical one, the Clavateae being intermediate in this respect be- 

 tween the Cylindropuntia of North America and the Tephrocacti and 

 cylindrical-jointed species of South America. 



