384 



THE KINDS OF PLANTS 



530. 

 Phaseolus vulgaris. 



12. PHASfiOLUS. BEAN. 



Tender herbs, often twining, the flowers never yellow, and the pinnate 

 leaves of 3 leaflets: flowers usually in clusters on the joints of the raceme or 

 at the end of the peduncle, the keel (inclosing the essential organs) coiling 

 into a spiral: fruit a true legume. 



P. vulgaris, Linn. Common bean. Figs. 1, 308, 309, 

 311, 312, 322, 530. Annual: twining (the twining habit 

 bred out in the "bush beans"): leaflets ovate, the lateral 

 ones unequal-sided: flowers white or purplish, the racemes 

 shorter than the leaves: pods narrow and nearly 

 straight. Probably from tropical America. 



P. lunatus, Linn. Lima bean. Fig. 531. Annual: tall- 

 twining (also dwarf forms): leaflets large: flowers whit- 

 ish, in racemes shorter than the leaves: pods flat and 

 curved, with a few large flat seeds. South America. 



P. multiflorus, Willd. Scarlet runner bean. Perennial 

 in warm countries from a tuberous root, tall-twining: 

 leaflets ovate: flowers bright scarlet (white in the "White Dutch Runner 

 bean") and showy, the racemes exceeding the leaves: pod long and broad 

 but not flat. Tropical America; cultivated for ornament and for food. 



13. VIGNA. COWPEA. 



Differs from Phaseolus chiefly in technical characters, one 

 of which is the curved rather than coiled keel of the flower. 



V. sinensis, Endl. Cowpea. Black pea. Stock pea. 

 Figs. 273, 532. Long-trailing or twining, tender annual: leaf- 

 lets narrow-ovate; flowers white or pale, 2 or 3 on the apex of 

 a very long peduncle, the standard rounded; pod slender .' * S6( 

 and long, cylindrical: seed (really a bean rather than pea) 

 small, short-oblong. China, Japan; much grown South for forage, and 

 used also as cover-crop. 



14. LUPiNUS. LUPINE. 



Low herbs: leaves palmately compound, 5-15 foliolate, rarely simple: 

 flowers showy, in terminal spikes or racemes: calyx 

 decidedly 2-lipped: standard round, sides rolled back- 

 ward: keel incurved, sickle-like: wings lightly united 

 above keel: stamens monadelphous, with 3 alternate 

 anthers, different in size and shape from others: pod 

 oblong, flattened, often knotty. 



L. perennis, Linn. Perennial, somewhat downy: 

 stem erect to 1 or 1^ ft.: leaflets 7-11, large, radiat- 

 ing, nearly sessile, oblanceolate, mucronate; stipules 

 small: flowers blue or whitish, in loose racemes: pod 

 linear-oblong, hairy, 5-6-seeded. Sandy soil. May to 

 June. 



532. 



Vigna sinen- 

 sis. Cowpea. 



