104 



DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



Phaseolus nanus (Bush Bean). 



(The beans of a different species, Vicia faba, L., otherwise called Faha 

 sativa, are not flattened, and are smaller than the above. They are often 

 given to horses.) 



Geography. — The zone of the bean is very wide, including the tropics and 



the temperate zones to 

 ^^ *^^® "^^^^^ parallels, and 



'^'px^ ^^^^ beyond in some 



N "> .-^r^afsek localities. 



Etymology. — Phaseo- 

 lus, the generic name is 

 from the Latin phaselus, 

 a little ship, due to the 

 shape of the flower. 

 Vulgaris, from the Latin, 

 means common or usual. 

 Nanus, from the Latiu, 

 signifies small or dwarf. 

 Lunatus, Latin, indicates 

 that the pod is in the 

 shape of a new moon. 

 Bean, the common name, 

 comes to us from the old 

 middle English, and is 

 supposed to signify good, 

 i. e., good food, or good for food. Bush Bean is named from the fact that 

 the plant appears in the shape of a little bush. Pole Bean is named from 

 the circumstance of planting poles in the hills with the seed for the stems 

 to climb upon. Kidney Bean 

 takes its name from the kidney- 

 shaped seeds. Lima is supposed 

 to be named from the fact that 

 this species was found near the 

 city of that name. 



History. — The bean was sup- 

 posed to be a native of India and 

 Western Asia, and to have thence 

 Avorked its way into southern 

 Europe by commerce and travel ; 

 but recent inquiries have dis- 

 turbed this belief. De Candolle, 

 who is the best authority on the 

 .'subject, thinks that the Phaseolus 

 vulgaris, and P. lunatus are in- 

 digenous to South and Central 

 America, and that the bean was 

 carried thence to southern Europe 

 by the Spaniards, and to western 

 Africa by Spanish slave-traders. 

 To reconcile these statements 

 with the accounts of ancient 



writers, we must conclude that the beans of the ancients were varieties of 

 other species, or different genera, of the Pulse family. 



<^ 



Phaseolus lunatus (Lima Bean). 



