THE VEGETABLES OF NEW YORK 



one another's work. One is inclined at first thought to 

 believe that this is an occasion of " confusion worse 

 confounded," but the condition is not quite so bad as 

 that. A more careful study must be made of variations 

 in order to clarify the application of this plethora of 

 names, but the net result is a clearer appreciation of 

 the factors involved than would otherwise be the case. 

 In tracing out the history of these beans each group 

 must be considered separately. 



The common bean. — The common beans dur- 

 ing the first 70 years after the publication of Linneaus' 

 Species Plantarum apparently received little atten- 

 tion from botanists. Salisbury, in 1796, changed the 

 name to Phaseolus esculentus apparently because he 

 did not like the name vulgaris; and Zuccarini described 

 in 1809 two forms of the common bean as new species, 

 one of which he attributed to Jussieu. 



Between 1821 and 1825 Gaetano Savi, Professor of 

 Botany at Pisa, published in the Nuovo Giornale de 

 Letter at i a series of notes on the genera Phaseolus 

 and Dolichos and in the tenth volume (1825) described 

 eight forms of the common bean as distinct species. 

 One of these was considered true vulgaris; the remain- 

 ing seven were new. P. vulgaris was divided into three 

 groups, viz., I, seed of a single color; II, seed with 

 bands or broad stripes; and III, seed variegated. Group 

 I was again separated into 14 sub-groups, based largely 

 on the color of the seed; Group II into 10; and Group III 

 into 7. The characters upon which the other seven 

 species were based were drawn largely from the relative 

 dimensions and the appearance of the seeds, although 

 pod characters were taken into consideration. 



De Candolle in the Prodromus (1825) followed 

 Savi's treatment except for changing the name of one 

 (P. romanus) which he called P. compressus from 

 the flattened pod and seed, and excepting also the 

 omission of the minor subdivisions of Savi's three 

 groups of vulgaris. The segregation of P. compressus 

 to include the large-seeded, flatter podded types is of 

 interest as being analogous to the separation of the 

 large flat-podded lima beans from the smaller podded, 

 smaller seeded forms. It should perhaps be said here 

 that with the increased amount of data on variation now 

 available, neither segregation can be considered valid. 

 While Savi mentioned neither of the species published 

 by Zuccarini, De Candolle places both as synonyms of 

 P. vulgaris in the self-colored group. 



In 1836, Dr. C. A. Fingerhuth in the tenth volume 

 of Linnaea in treating the " Economic Flora of the 

 Lower and Middle Rhinelands," added to the list of 

 species names. He used most of Savi's names and 

 added several of his own, as he recognized 13 distinct 

 species. These were assigned to three groups, viz., 

 I, seeds compressed; II, seeds oblong; and III, seeds 

 subrotund. This disposal apparently found little favor 

 with either botanists or horticulturists as his names did 

 not persist. 



The next investigation of note was that of George 

 von Martens who, in 1860, published his monograph on 

 Garden Beans. In 1869, a revised second edition was 



issued. Here he recognized 7 species and 120 varieties. 

 Between the appearances of these two editions of 

 Martens' work Dr. Friedrich Alefeld published his 

 Landwirthschaftliche Flora (1886) and placed all the 

 common beans under the single species Phaseolus 

 vulgaris with 124 varieties. He stated that all varieties 

 might be classified in three " variety groups " according 

 to height of stem, as 1. P. vulgaris alius, 2. P. vulgaris 

 medius, and 3. P. vulgaris nanus (P. nanus L.). 

 However, he followed Martens' system and grouped 

 them according to shape and color of seed into seven 

 variety groups — each equivalent to one of Martens' 

 species. 



The foregoing treatments represent the general 

 trend towards a minute classification that extended over 

 a century of botanical work, particularly in Germany, 

 and Alefeld's work in reuniting the numerous varieties 

 under a single species forecasts to some degree the 

 broader conception of a species that later again found 

 favor. It is worth noting that Ascherson and Graebner 

 in their Mitteleuropaischen Flora in 1910 reduced the 

 number of varieties to four with two sub-varieties of 

 one of these. This tendency to reunite species and 

 varieties is to be attributed in part to more thorough 

 study of the genetic factors in plants and the realization 

 that none of these numerous varieties is sufficiently 

 constant to warrant a distinctive botanical name. 

 Nearly all the variations as handled by the horticulturist 

 or seedsman are kept fairly true to type by rigorous 

 roguing and careful selection. Each horticultural variety 

 in such a case is really an artifact and must be considered 

 in a separate category from the natural botanical species. 



The lima bean. — Linneaus, as has been noted, 

 described two forms of the lima bean as Phaseolus 

 lunatus and P. inamoenus. The first name is the 

 one accepted. The second name apparently applied 

 to the so called " Speckled Lima." In 1770, Jacquin 

 described another form as P. rufus. This is a red- 

 seeded type often known as the Maritius bean. He also 

 described at this time P. bipunctatus. This descrip- 

 tion has puzzled many investigators, though nearly all 

 have referred it to synonomy under P. lunatus. The 

 ferruginous spots on each side of the hilum form a 

 character rarely seen in the lima beans, though there is 

 a specimen in the seed collection of the U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture that fits this description; and 

 Jacquin's specimen in the British Museum is P. lunatus. 

 In 1787, Medicus described P. achariensis. The 

 writer has been unable to consult the original descrip- 

 tion, but a specimen of Jacquin's so labeled in the 

 British Museum is an undoubted lima of the sieva type. 



From time to time following this, various extreme 

 forms were described as distinct species by several 

 investigators, as follows: P. tunkinensis Louriero, 

 1790; P. macrocarpus Moench, 1794, based on P. 

 inamoenus L. ; P. Xuarezii Zuccarini, 1809 — appar- 

 ently the first dwarf or bush type; P. saccharatus and 

 P. parviRor US Stokes 1812; P. macrocarpus Poiret 

 1813 (the identity of this bean with the lima is ques- 

 tioned, but it seems very likely to be one of the big lima 



