482 LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. 



long, narrow, smooth, and shining ; the flowers are large, 

 greenish-yellow, and produced, two or three together, at the 

 extremity of quite a long peduncle ; the pods are nearly 

 cylindrical, pale green, pendent, and grow with remarkable 

 rapidity, when fully developed, they are eighteen or twenty 

 inches long, and contain eight or nine seeds. 



These should be sown as early in spring as the appearance 

 of settled warm weather, and the plants will then blossom in 

 ten or eleven weeks, afford pods for use in fourteen weeks, 

 and ripen off their crop in gradual succession until destroyed 

 by frost. 



The ripe seeds are cinnamon-brown, with a narrow, dark 

 line about the hilum ; kidney-shaped, half an inch long, and 

 a fourth of an inch broad. Nearly four thousand are con- 

 tained in a quart, and will plant four hundred and fifty 

 hills. 



The seeds are quite small, and are rarely eaten, either in a 

 green or ripe state. The variety is cultivated exclusively 

 for its long, peculiar pods, which are crisp, tender, of good 

 flavor, and much esteemed for pickling. It is, however, 

 much less productive than many of the running kinds of 

 garden-beans, and must be considered more curious than 

 really useful. 



A species or variety, known as the Chinese Long Pod, pro- 

 duces pods of much greater length, often measuring nearly 

 three feet. 



LIMA BEAN. 



Phaseolus lunatus. 



Stem ten feet or more in height ; leaves comparatively 

 long and narrow, smooth and shining ; flowers small, green- 

 ish-yellow, in spikes ; the pods are four inches and a half 

 long, an inch and a quarter broad, much flattened, green 



