CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF SOUTHWEST GUATEMALA—McBRYDE 135 
currence into Guatemala; it was called ircwmita (Bukasov 
recorded escumite or escomite from Chiapas and Guate- 
mala). Butter beans (P. coccineus, multiflorus) the 
Russians found in greatest variety of form and “widely 
grown only in Mexico and Guatemala” (Bukasov, 1930, p. 
505). Common Mexican names are ayecote (Oaxaca) and 
botil (Chiapas). In the Cuchumatanes Mountains of Guate- 
mala it is called chamborote. In Southwest Guatemala large 
varieties of butter beans are generally called piloy, white, 
red, yellow, black, and mottled, common in the Quezaltenango 
market and other Highland centers. In the Lowlands, 
“piloy” ordinarily refers to the small and large lima (respec- 
tively, P. lunatus sieva and P. lunatus macrocarpa), also 
called ixtapacal in certain regions.** The lima bean is not 
called haba in Southwest Guatemala, as it is in some Spanish- 
speaking countries. Haba always refers here to Vicia faba 
(see pp. 22, 28). P. lunatus is reported by Bukasov (1930, p. 
505). as “grown everywhere [in Guatemala], but in limited 
quantities.” In Southwest Guatemala it is not grown except 
in the Lowlands,“ and is rarely seen in any of the Highland 
markets. Bukasoy’s statement that “P. vulgaris is cultivated 
upon the largest area and in preference to the other species” 
is true for Guatemala as a whole, but near the upper limits 
of bean cultivation P. coccineus is grown almost exclusively. 
The small, black P. vulgaris of middle altitudes is most 
in demand of all beans in the area (p. 104). Bukasov’s state- 
ment that all the beans are cultivated to elevations of 2,500- 
3,000 m. (8,202-9,842 ft.), with P. lunatus and P. acutifolius 
belonging “chiefly to the torrid zone,” should be modified. It 
is doubtful whether these two grow above 1,500 m. or 4,921 
feet (except on Lake Atitlan) and 1,300 m. (4,265 ft.) re- 
spectively, so that they more properly belong only to the 
warm Lowlands. 
The Russians present a strong case for the origin of all 
the beans except P. acutifolius (Mexican origin; see 
Bukasov, 1930, p. 551) in Central America. E. Ditmer (ms.) 
is quoted by Bukasov to the effect that P. coccineus and 
P. lunatus var. microspermus (small-seeded) are native to 
Central America. Bukasov puts the small round variety 
in Yucatan, and the small flat type in Mexico and Guate- 
mala.” 
Oviedo, in listing the major 16th-century food staples of 
Honduras, included “maize, manioc (bitter and sweet), 
sweetpotatoes, chile, and a great abundance of zapote 
mamey” (Oviedo, 1851-55, vol. 3, p. 219) but did not even 
mention beans. However, he said of Guatemala that the 
healthy, prolific soil produced “maize, many fruits and vege- 
tables, beans of many kinds,” etc. (ibid., vol. 4, p. 33). In 
his special section on crops, he cited Mexico and Nicaragua 
as particularly noted bean-producing areas. The mainland 
generally was more important for beans than the West 
Indies. In Nagrando (Nicaragua) Oviedo “saw harvests of 
1% He states also that the name escomita or escumita is applied in 
the Department of San Marcos to Vigna sinensis. 
195 In the United States, “butter bean” may refer either to P. lunatus 
or P. coccineus, so that lima and butter bean are sometimes not 
distinguished, as is the case in Guatemala. J i 
198 A small, red, flat “piloy’” at Santa Catarina Palopé is a lima 
variety (sieva); this (1,550 m. or 5,085 ft.) is probably higher than 
the usual upper limit, since it is on the mild Lake shore. 7 
197 Bukasov, 1930, p. 551. In a later work, Ivanov says, Yucatan 
appears as a secondary center and a noteworthy focal point of endemic 
forms of Phaseolus lunatus....”’ (Ivanov, 1937, p. 62). 
hundreds of ‘hanegas’™ of beans.” In that land and others 
of the coast (Pacific) there were many kinds of beans, some 
yellow, others speckled, A large one like an haba (broad- 
bean), bitter when eaten raw, may well have been a large 
lima”” More care with this agriculture was taken in 
Nicaragua than in any part of the Indies where Oviedo had 
been (Oviedo, 1851-55, vol. 1, p. 285). 
PROBABLE ORIGINS OF PHASEOLUS SPECIES IN GUATEMALA 
Kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris).—In December 
1941, I found a wild bean that was strikingly similar to 
P. vulgaris (no wild form of ‘which had been previously 
recorded in botanical literature), though it was considerably 
smaller than the common kidney bean. It was growing on 
a steep slope high above San Antonio Huista, along the 
trail leading from Jacaltenango, and at an altitude of about 
1,500 m. (4,921 ft.). Here, it was deriving mechanical sup- 
port from stalks of teosinte, wild relative of maize. Pods 
were small and green, and there were no flowers. The 
same bean came to my attention in the woods just south- 
west of the village of San Antonio, elevation 1,200 m. (3,937 
ft.). The pods were dry and many of them had sprung open; 
with a quick spiral twist they ejected the seeds. Varied col- 
lections of these (most of them quite small, black, dark 
brown, yellowish brown, or mottled black and coffee brown) 
were sent to several botanists, but to no avail insofar as 
positive identification was concerned. It was agreed that 
the plant looked in every way like a wild form of P. vulgaris. 
There were no flowers, however, and none of the seeds which’ 
were grown in California, Ohio, and Maryland produced any 
inflorescence, though the plants were vigorous. The long 
summer day no doubt caused the difficulty (see Mackie, 1943, 
p. 12), Finally, through the efforts of Gen. Miguel Ydigoras 
Fuentes, Guatemala Director of Roads, and Colonel Rosales, 
Jefe of Huehuetenango, I was able to obtain flowers early 
in 1944. Dr. Roland McKee, of the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, identified the bean as a wild form of 
P. vulgaris, and found a record of a similar bean sent from 
Guatemala by Garcia Salas in 1933. Because of the removal 
of this material from Washington for safekeeping, it will not 
be possible to compare these beans and make certain the 
identification until after the present war. Dr. McKee doubts 
whether the plant has been named, 
Locally, this bean is called “matz” or “cumatz” by the 
natives of San Antonio Huista. The Indians ‘collect the 
beans, which are highly esteemed, and eat them usually in 
gruel (atol), I was told; matz means atol in Tzental, a 
language of nearby Chiapas. They are also eaten in the 
pod (ejote). 
The occurrence of this wild form, with highly varied seed 
colors, as well as the great variety of cultivated types of 
P. vulgaris throughout the region, may be regarded as strong 
evidence of Guatemala origin of the common kidney bean. 
198 Hanega=fanega (hundredweight, a measure of grain, roughly 
corresponding with the English bushel. 
19 The cyanogen contained by all limas (according to Mackie’s species 
criterion) would cause the bitter taste. Although this large bean may 
have been a lupine, as Mackie suggests, the date was early for such an 
introduction (the lupine of cultivation in El Salvador today is Lupinus 
hirsutus, of European origin. See Standley and Calderén, 1925, p. 
114.) 
