1913] FREEMAN—TEPARY 405 
bean), and P. multiflorus (runner bean). Battery’ states that the 
moth bean (P. aconitifolius Jacq.) is cultivated as a human food 
in India, and that P. Mungo Linn., with its vars. glaber Roxberg 
(adzuki bean) and radiatus Hook., are widely cultivated in southern 
Asia. It has already been shown that the tepary differs specifically 
from P. vulgaris and P. lunatus. It may now be distinguished 
from P. multiflorus, P. aconitifolius, and P. Mungo by the following 
characters: 




TABLE III 
Tepary P. multiflorus P. aconitifolius P. Mungo 
Leaflets. .| Simple Simple 2-3 lobed at apex | Simple 
Flowers. .| 4-5, small, at the} Large and | Very small, yellow- Rather small, yel- 
showy, in ish, in heads at owish, in a capi- 
$ gen- many- the ends of axil-| _ tate cluster of 5 
erally inferior flowered lary peduncles or 6 on the end of 
to the leaves racemes stout we - 
Stem ....] Nearly smooth | Minutely Brown hairy Densely clothed 
or slightly pubescent with 
puberulent irs 




Since it is evident that the tepary does not belong to any of the 
species now recognized as cultivated esculents or ornamentals, 
there remains to compare it with the described wild species. The 
Index Kewensis lists 141 species of Phaseolus, of which 90 are 
indigenous to North and South America and the adjacent islands. 
Rose‘ states that “nearly 50 species of Phaseolus have been reported 
from Mexico and Central America, and I have no doubt but many 
remain yet undescribed.” Upon going over the available litera- 
ture I have been able to find 54 species recorded as growing in the 
southwestern United States, Mexico, and Central America. Indian 
tradition states that the tepary has been grown within its present 
habitat since prehistoric times. ‘The physiological evidence from 
the hardiness and drought-resistance of these plants supports 
this view. It is more than likely, therefore, that this — 
domesticated from wild plants growing within this — - ee 
cent Mexico rather than from species indigenous to moist tropical 
‘ Bartey, L. H., Cyclopedia of Amer. hort. pp. 1294-1296. 190T- 
‘Rose, J. N., Notes on useful plants of Mexico. Contrib. U.S. Nat. Herb. 
5'212. 1899. 
