Botany of Beans 851 



5-toothed, less than half the length of the corolla ; standard 

 folded over the much shorter wings and the wings longer 

 than the keel which incloses the 9-and-l stamens and the 

 upwardly bent style which is bearded just back of the stigma : 

 pod variable, large, 1 to 4 at a joint, 3 to 6 in. long, 1 in. or 

 less broad, at first erect but usually becoming declined or 

 pendent with weight, flattened or circular in cross-section, 

 beaked at the summit : seeds 2 to 8 to the pod, nearly globular 

 td flattened-angular, usually ■ heavier than lima beans. — Prob- 

 ably W. Asian and N. African in origin, but the indigenous 

 form unknown ; cultivated from the earliest times. (Faha is 

 Latin name for bean.) 



Phaseolus. Legmninosce. Perhaps 150 species of warm- 

 country annual and perennial herbs, mostly twining. 



P. vulgaris, Linn. Sp. PI. 723. Common Pole Bean. Kid- 

 ney Bean. Tall-twining pubescent annual": germination epi- 

 geal : stems very slender, branching, angled : Ivs. pinnately 

 3-foliolate, petiole long, stipules small and acute, often falling 

 early ; stipels present ; leaflets broad-ovate in general form, 

 acuminate or acute, margins entire, the terminal one promi- 

 nently stalked, the lateral ones short-stalked and unequal- 

 sided, the lower side being the larger : flowers few on an 

 axillary peduncle shorter than the petiole, white fading to 

 yellowish, violet or lilac, the floral bracts (at the base of 

 the pedicels and of calyx) green and broad-oval, % in. Jong 

 . more or less; calyx a small. shallow cup covered or subtended 

 by the 2 bracts, about % length of the corolla, obscurely 

 5-toothed or angled with the longer projection on the under 

 side; corolla papilionaceous; the standard bent abruptly 

 upward at the middle, broad and sometimes hooded, refuse, the 

 wings projecting and between which is the upwardly coiled 

 keel; stamens 9 and 1; style within the coil, bearded toward 

 the end : pod long and narrow, 4 to 8 in. long and rarely ex- 

 ceeding % in. across, curved, the sides nearly parallel, the 

 beak slender pointed and curved : seeds 3 to S, very various 

 in size, form, weight and color, lending themselves well to 

 the giving of names as if the variations represent species. 



