STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 42 1 



very delicate, appeared in various colors, as white, marbled, and green and was grown in 

 Virginian gardens before 1818.' Lawson,* 1700-08, says: " The Bushel bean, a spon- 

 taneous growth, very flat, white, and mottled with a purple figure, was trained on 

 poles " in the Carolinas. The sieva, if a synonym of the bushel bean, is the white form 

 and was in American gardens before 1806. Vilmorin mentions a variety of the sieva 

 spotted with red. 



4. The speckled lima has white seeds striped and spotted with a deep, dark red. The 

 figures of Lobel, 1591, under Phaseoli rubri, very well represent the cultivated variety, as 

 also a sort said to be growing spontaneously in Florida in abandoned Indian fields. 



5. The large red cannot be traced; it may be the blood-red bean Martens received 

 from Texas, Sierra Leone and Batavia. It differs from the next but in size. 



6. The small red answers well to the description given of Phaseolus rufus Jacq. by 

 Martens, who put its appearance at 1770. 



These six beans, with their synonyms, include all the Uma beans now known, but 

 there are a number of other types described which sooner or later will appear and will 

 be claimed as originations. A careful reflection will convince that our varieties are all 

 of ancient occurrence and that there have been no originations imder culture within modern 

 times. A black, white-streaked form is recorded in Cochin China by Loureiro; a white, 

 black-streaked form is figured by Clusius in 1601; a black, as Phaseolus derasus Schrank, 

 is reported in Brazil. The P. bipunctatus Jacq. has not as yet reached ovir seedsmen, 

 although grown at Reunion under the name of pais du cap. Martens describes several 

 others with a yellow band about the eye and variously colored; and one with an orange 

 ground and black markings occurs among the beans from the Peruvian graves at Ancon 

 at the National Museum. 



P. multiflorus Willd. dutch caseknife bean, scarlet runner. 



Mexico. This species has tuberous, poisonous roots.' It has annual, twining stems 

 and is grown in the garden. The young pods are tender and well flavored. In Britain, 

 the green pods alone are used; in Europe, the ripened seeds, though in Holland they are 

 grown for both the pod and seed. In India, it is mentioned by Firminger < as grown. 

 Burr ' describes three varieties. In 1806, McMahon ^ says this bean was cultivated 

 exclusively for ornament. In 1828, Fessenden ^ mentions it among garden beans. The 

 culture of the Scarlet Runner is very modem. In Johnson's edition of Gerarde, 1630, 

 it is said to have been procured by Tradescant; in Ray's time, 1686, it was grown for 

 ornament; Miller, about 1750, was the first to bring it into repute in England as a 

 vegetable. * 



'Randolph Treat. Card. 275. 1818. 



' Lawson, J. Hist. Car. 76, 77. i860. 



' Balfour, J. H. Treas. Bot. 2:874. 1870. 



* Firminger, T. A. C. Card. Ind. 151. 1874. 



' Burr, F. Field, Card. Veg. 497, 498, 499. 1863. 



'McMahon Amer. Card. Cal. 580. 1806. {Vicia coccinea) 



' Fessenden New Amer. Card. 36. 1828. 



Martyn Miller's Card. Did. 1807. (P. coccineus) 



