422 STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 



P. miingo Linn, mung bean. 



Tropical Asia. Elliott ' says this is one of the most useful and largely cultivated 

 of the Indian pulses, the green variety being more esteemed than the black. It is culti- 

 vated, according to Delile,' by the modem Egyptians, and Schweinfurth says it is eaten 

 by the Bongo tribe of central Africa. 



P. pallar Molina. 



Chile. This species was cultivated by the natives before the Conquest. The beaas 

 are half an inch long.* 



P. retusus Benth. prairie bean. 



Western North America and common on the prairies west of the Pecos. The seeds 

 are about the size of peas; when still green, they make an acceptable dish ' after thorough 

 cooking. 



P. triolobus Ait. 



Asia and tropical Africa. This bean is cultivated in several varieties for its seeds, 

 which are eaten by the poorer classes. 



P, tuberosus Lour. 



Cochin China. This bean has edible, tuberous roots.' 



P. vulgaris Linn, common bean, haricot, kidney bean. 



Cultivated everywhere. When the bean was first known-, it was an American plant, 

 and its culture extended over nearly the whole of the New World. It finds mention by 

 nearly all the early voyagers and explorers, and, while the records were not kept suffi- 

 ciently accurately to justify identification in all cases with varieties now known, the mass 

 of the testimony is such that we cannot but believe that beans, as at present grown, were 

 included. The evidence for the antiquity of the bean in America is both circvunstantial 

 and direct. The nvmiber of names given in the northern parts of America, alone, indi- 

 cate an antiquity of culture: as, sake or sahu on the St. Lawrence (Cartier); ogaressa by 

 the Hurons (Sagard); tuppuhguam-ash, " twiners," by the northern Algonquins (Elliott); 

 a'teba'kwe by the Abenaki of the Kennebec (Rasle) ; mushaquissedes by the Pequods (Stiles) ; 

 malachxil by the Delawares (Zeisberger) ; and okindgier on the Roanoke. Moreover, in 

 these few cases, for illustration, we find no common root. The mmiber of varieties that 

 were grown by the Indians is another indication of antiquity of culture, but this fact 

 of varieties will receive illustration in quotations from early voyagers. 



John Verazanno, in a letter written in July, 1524, says of the Indians of Norum- 

 Bega: " Their ordinairie food is of pulse, whereof they have great store, differing in 

 colour and taste from ours, of good and pleasant taste." Evidently this first visitor to 



' Elliott, W. Bot. Soc. Edinb. 7:292. 1863. 

 De Candolle, A. Geog. Bot. 2:962. 1855. 

 ' Schweinfurth, G. HearM/r. 1:249. 1874. 

 * Molina Hist. Chili 1:91. 1808. 

 'Havard, V. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 501. 1885 

 ' Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 1:349. 1832. 



