FIVE ORIENTAL SPECIES OF BEANS. 17 



mung bean was well known previous to Linnaeus's time, having been 

 described by various botanists and well figured by Dillenius (1732, 

 p. 315). Strangely enough Linnaeus never gave a binomial name to 

 the mung, through having confused it with the urd and even with 

 the soy bean. 



Phaseolus max L. (Linn6, 1753, p. 725), which by some botanists has 

 been supposed to refer to the urd, is really the soy bean, as clearly 

 shown by Linnaeus's original specimen, which still exists. In naming 

 this plant Linnaeus evidently was under the impression that it was the 

 max of Arabia described by Avicenna. Max is merely a modification 

 of mash,, under which name the mung is generally known in western 

 Asia. While Linnaeus, therefore, intended the name Phaseolus max 

 to apply to the mung, the plant he actually described is the soy bean, 

 and the name therefore belongs with the latter plant. 



Phaseolus mungo L. (Linne, 1767, p. 101). There is no specimen 

 in the Linnaean herbarium representing this name. Linnaeus's 

 description, however, is long and detailed, based on plants grown in 

 the greenhouse at Upsala. From the specific name used, Linnaeus 

 evidently thought that his plant was the mung bean, but the descrip- 

 tion much more clearly accords with the tikari, a form of the urd, as 

 Prain has previously pointed out (1897, p. 422). 



Phaseolus radiatus L. (Linne, 1753, p. 725). The original specimen 

 of this plant was grown in the greenhouse at Upsala from seeds ob- 

 tained from Canton, China. This name has been supposed by nearly 

 all botanists to stand for the mung bean. This is due to the fact that 

 when Linnaeus named the plant in 1753 he cited the illustration and 

 description of Dillenius (1732, p. 315, pi. 235, fig. 304) . He even took 

 the name radiatus from Dillenius's description. Unfortunately, 

 however, Dillenius's plant, which is the mung, is not the same as the 

 plant which Linnaeus grew in the garden at Upsala and which forms 

 the type of his Phaseolus radiatus. This plant, in the opinion of the 

 botanists at Kew, is the same as that later named P. sublobatus Rox- 

 burgh. It thus appears that there is no botanical name given by 

 Linnaeus that can properly be applied to the mung bean. 



Roxburgh in 1832 described and named a number of the species 

 and varieties of Phaseolus grown in India. He changed the applica- 

 tion of Linnaeus's names in several respects, applying the name P. 

 mungo to the green-seeded mung, P. max to the black-seeded mung, 

 and P. radiatus to the urd. These changed applications of Roxburgh 

 can not be accepted. He also named the golden-seeded mung P. 

 aureus (1832, p. 297). This last name is therefore the first published 

 binomial which properly belongs with the mung and which must be 

 accepted as its proper botanical designation, notwithstanding the fact 

 that Roxburgh meant it to apply only to the variety with yellow 

 seeds. 



