HISTORY OF AMERICAN GARDEN BEANS 



forms); P. derasus Schrank 1819, — a rather common 

 blackseeded form from Brazil; and P. puberulus Hum- 

 boldt, Borysland and Kunth 1823. 



In 1825, that portion of the Prodromus containing 

 the Leguminosae was published and here De Candolle 

 lists in the same group with the lima, but as distinct 

 species, the following: P. inamoenus, P. tunkinensis, 

 P. Xuaresii, P. macrocarpus Poir., P. derasus, and 

 P. puberulus as well as P. adenanthus Meyer. The 

 latter is undoubtedly a distinct species and is now 

 widely distributed throughout the tropics. The others 

 are almost certainly mere forms of P. lunatus. 



Roxburgh in 1832 added the name P. maximus to 

 the already lengthy list of synonyms; and the year 1837 

 marked a high water mark in the flood of names for 

 this variable species. Blanco in his Philippine Flora 

 described P. ilocanus and P. vexillatus, both of which 

 are apparently lima beans; and Macfadyen in his 

 Flora of Jamaica described P. dumosus, P. limensis, 

 P. foecundus, P. saccharatus, and P. latisiliquus. 

 Only the first of these is questionable and it seems more 

 likely to be a form of the lima than of the kidney bean 

 to which occasionally it has been doubtfully referred. 



Bentham in Martius, Flora Braziliensis in 1859 

 attempted a segregation of small-podded and large- 

 podded forms. He considered P. lunatus a small- 

 podded form and placed P. bipunctatus as a synonym. 

 The large-podded form he called P. lunatus var. 

 macrocarpus and thought P. inamoenus, P. Xuaresii, 

 P. puberulus, and P. saccharatus Macfadyen synonyms. 



Bailey in 1923 reviewed the situation in part and 

 feeling that the large- and small-podded forms were 

 distinct species used P. lunatus for the small-podded 

 or so-called sieva forms, and P. limensis of Macfadyen 

 for the large-podded or big lima types. A careful 

 analysis of the characters proposed as distinguishing 

 these forms has shown that they are invalid with the 

 possible exception of the single one of pod shape. There 

 seems to be as little reason for considering the two forms 

 distinct as there would be in separating pencil-podded 

 and fiat-podded types of the common bean; and, in 

 fact, consistency in the treatment of the two groups 

 would demand the recognition of part, if not all of 

 Savi's segregates in the vulgaris group, if the extremes 

 of the lima group were considered distinct. The wide 

 variation and large number of intermediate forms of 

 wild or semi-feral types argues very strongly against 

 such a course. 



The runner bean. — Apparently the runner bean 

 was the last of the three American beans to be intro- 

 duced into Europe. Of the early writers — Gesner, 

 Dodonaeus, Clusius, Lobel, and Bauhin — none men- 

 tion this plant. In 1633, however, Thomas Johnson, 

 on page 1215 of his History of Plants — an amended 

 edition of Gerarde's Herball, says that the " Scarlet 

 Beane " . . . " was procured by Mr. Tradescant 

 and grows in our Gardens "... Thos. Martyn 

 in his edition, 1807, of Miller's Gardener's Dictionary 

 says: 



In Rays time (1686) it was cultivated rather 



for the beauty and durability of the flowers than 

 for the fruit; and ladies did not then disdain to put 

 the flowers in their nosegays and garlands. Mr. 

 Miller seems to have been the first who brought it 

 into much repute as an esculent Kidney -bean; and 

 I well remember his speaking much in praise of it 

 more than fifty years since, and that he preferred it 

 at his own table. 



Two years later, the scarlet runner is again described by Cor- 

 nut in his Canadensium Plantarum . . . Historia. 

 According to E. Meyer's republication (in the tenth 

 volume of Linnaea) of Titius' catalog, it was first noted 

 in Germany in 1654 and three varieties were noted, viz. 

 the black-seeded red-flowered; the variegated-seeded 

 red-flowered; and the white-seeded, white-flowered. 

 Morison mentioned the red-flowered form in 1680, as 

 did Tournefort in 1719. This form is the only one noted 

 in Kniphof's Centuria (1747) and in Linnaeus' 

 Hortus Upsalensis (1748). Again, in 1753, in the 

 Species Plantarum it is the scarlet blossom that gives 

 the valid name to the plant, Phaseolus coccineus. 

 One wonders why Linnaeus in the second edition of the 

 Species Plantarum in 1763 refers his plant to varietal 

 rank under P. vulgaris. Lamarck in his Encyclopedia 

 (vol. 3 p. 70), possibly feeling that the name was inade- 

 quate, called the runner bean P. multiflorus and noted 

 that white-flowered, white-seeded forms occurred. Will- 

 denow in his edition of the Species Plantarum adopted 

 Lamarck's treatment; and has been credited very gen- 

 erally and quite as erroneously with having originated 

 this name. De Candolle in the Prodromus (1825) 

 held P. multiflorus as a composite species with two 

 varieties coccineus and albiflorus. 



Martens in his Gartenbohnen made four varieties, 

 viz., niger, a black-seeded form; albus, the earlier 

 albiflorus renamed; coccineus, the best known form; 

 and bicolor based on Phaseolus bicolor of Velloso's 

 Flora Fluminensis 1825. This is the " Painted 

 Lady " of the modern catalog. Martens attributes 

 the species to Dom Antonio da Arrabida. 



Alefeld in his Landwirthschaftliche Flora (1866) 

 made a new genus, Lipusa, for the runner bean because 

 of the facts that the cotyledons stay in the ground as in 

 the Viceae and the position of the stigma seemed dif- 

 ferent than in other Phaseolae. But one more change 

 in status was made before botanists returned this bean to 

 its original status with its earliest name, Phaseolus 

 coccineus of Linnaeus. This change was made by 

 Nicholson in his Dictionary of Gardening, vol. 3, 

 p. 94 in 1886, when he called the plant P. vulgaris var. 

 multiflorus. 



Horticultural varieties. — We may consider the 

 horticultural history of the beans as opposed to the 

 botanical history in that the former deals with garden 

 forms or horticultural varieties generally named in the 

 vernacular and representing types selected with special 

 emphasis on characteristics of value in their garden 

 culture or culinary usage. Here earliness or lateness of 

 bearing, type of pod, color of seed, and size and form of 

 vine, pod, and seed are of importance. It is patent to 

 everyone that these differences as discovered and held 



