B. P. I.— 282. 



/' 



VAJERICAN VARIETIES OF GARDEN BEANS. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Next to the potato, the bean is by far the most important vegetable 

 of this country. Being sold in the United States under more than 

 400 varietal names and having at least 185 distinct types, it 

 easily stands first among vegetables in the number of varieties, and 

 being grown extensively as a field and garden crop, it easily ranks 

 second in the value of crops produced. Dry beans are a staple farm 

 product in many sections of the United States, and snap and green 

 shell beans one of the important green vegetables during the sum- 

 mer months. One American seedsman sells every year more than 

 24,000 bushels of seed of garden varieties alone. 



BOTANICAL RELATIONSHIP OF BEAN SPECIES. 



T^hose plants which are commonly classed as beans include a great 

 number of different species and genera of the Leguminosa^ family, 

 the same family to W'hich the garden pea, the sweet pea, the clovers, 

 and the vetches belong. Of these many species this bulletin deals 

 only wnth garden beans" or W'ith those species cultivated chiefly as 

 food for man rather than for fodder, for soiling crops, or for ornamental 

 planting. 



GARDEN SPECIES. 



The five species whose varieties are described in this bulletin are as 

 follows : 



Phaseolus vulgaris, the Kidney bean, one of the hundred or more 

 species of the genus Phaseolus, is the most varied in type and the 

 most widely scattered of all the bean species. The total number of 

 distinct varieties throughout the world is probably at least 500. 



Phaseolus lunatus, the Lima bean, is also quite numerous in variety 

 types, but the total number grown to any extent throughout the 

 world is probably less than 50. 



a See Farmers' Bulletin No. 289, "Beans." 

 109 



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