CHAPTER II 

 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY OF BEANS, AND THEIR ALLIES 



The beans and their allies as treated in this part of 

 THE VEGETABLES OF NEW YORK form a closely 

 related group of plants known as the tribe Phascoleae. 

 This group of plants is closely allied to the vetches 

 described in Part I, but differs from them chiefly in 

 their pinnate stipulate leaves without tendrils or setae 

 and in the small disc at the base of the pistils. They are 

 nearly all twining, annual or perennial herbs, though a 

 few are woody and several are not twining. 



The tribe contains about 60 genera and over 1,000 

 species of plants of which only those of commercial 

 importance are discussed. The following chapter, in 

 fact, deals only with certain species of Phaseolus. Other 

 species of this genus, as well as those of several other 

 genera of the tribe, are of sufficient importance to merit 

 some consideration here. Besides those plants more 

 fully described below, the following deserve brief 

 mention: Amphlcarpa monoica Ell., the "Hog 

 Peanut " of the eastern United States, is said to have 

 been cultivated in the South for its pods (Sturtevant's 

 Notes on Edible Plants 47. 1919.), Apios tuberosa 

 Moench, the " Ground Nut " of northeastern North 

 America, has edible tubers and is often grown as an 

 ornamental vine. Voandzeia subterranea Thouars, 

 the " African Peanut," is grown for its edible seeds. 

 Pachyrhizus tuberosus Spreng, the " Yam Bean," 

 has edible pods and roots. Psophocarpus tetra- 

 gonolobus DC, the " Goa Bean," is used in the Old 

 World tropics for its edible seeds and pods. Sturtevant 

 notes that the seeds of certain species of Clitoria, 

 Mucuna, and Rhynchosia are used for food, as are 

 the roots of species of Flemingia and Pueraria and 

 the leaves of Erythrina indica (Notes on Edible 

 Plants. 1919). 



Tribe: PHASEOLEAE Bronn, D/ss. Legum. 133. 

 1822. 



KEY TO IMPORTANT GENERA 

 A. Style not hairy, except sometimes at the base, 

 b. The 10th stamen ithe upper one, opposite to the standard) 

 at least partly united with the others, plants herbaceous, 

 c. Flowers small, not much exceeding the calyx. 



1. Soja (p. 8' 

 cc. Flowers large, much longer than the calyx. 



2. Canavalia (p. 8 I 

 bb. The 10th stamen free, plant somewhat shrubby. 



3. Cajamis p. 9) 

 AA. Style hairy. 



b. Keel merely curved 



c. Stigma not oblique 4. Dolichos (p. 9) 



cc. Stigma very oblique 5. Vigiia i p. 10 



bb. Keel spirally coiled 6. Phaseolus p. 1 1 



1. SOJA Moench, Meth. 153. 1794. 

 The only species is the following: Soja max 

 Piper, Jour. Am. Soc. Agron. 6:84. 1914. Soy- 

 bean. — Phaseolus maxL. Sp. PL 725. 1753. Dolichos 



Soja L. Sp. PI. 727. 1753. Soja hispida Moench, 

 Meth. 153. 1794. Phaseolus sordidus Salisb. Prod. 

 335. 1796. Glycine Soja Sieb. & Zucc. Abh. Akad. 

 Moench. 4?: 119. 1845. Glycine hispida Maxim. 

 Bull. Acad. Sci. Petersb. 18:398. 1873. Soja Soja 

 Karst. Pharm. Med. Bot. 711. 1882. Glycine max 

 Merr. Int. Rumph. Herb. Amb. 274. 1917. 



Annual herb, stout, bushy, and erect in most of the cultivated 

 forms, but occasionally slender with twining tips — the wild form 

 a slender twining vine — hairy throughout with tawny or gray 

 pubescence, 1-3 m tall; leaves 3-foliolate; leaflets entirely ovate, 

 obtuse, mucronate, the lateral oblique, hairy along the veins and 

 margins; flowers small, white or purplish in short axillary racemes; 

 calyx hairy, the upper teeth more or less united; standard broad, 

 slightly auriculate; wings lightly adherent to the short obtuse keel; 

 stamens monadelphous, the 10th partially free; pods short stalked, 

 5-8 cm long, constricted between the seeds; seeds 2-3 I sometimes 4) 

 globose to oblong, yellow, green, brown, or black, with the small 

 hilum often of different color than the body of the seed. Chromo- 

 some No. 10 and 20. l Native to eastern Asia. 



Soybeans, according to Bretschneider, were culti- 

 vated in China as early as 2800 B. C. They can he 

 grown wherever corn is grown, hence New York can 

 probably grow many varieties to advantage. Morse 

 (Soy Beans, U. S. D. A. Farmer's Bulletin 1520. 

 1927) says that " increased utilization of the soybean in 

 the United States has resulted in an enormous increase 

 in acreage for hay, pasturage, silage, and seed." It is 

 estimated that 500,000 acres were grown in the United 

 States in 1917. The acreage had increased to over 

 3,000,000 by 1927 of which over 1 3 is used for the 

 production of seed. Wiggans (Varietal Experiments 

 with Soybeans in New York, Cornell Bulletin 491. 

 1929) recommends the following varieties: For all 

 purposes, Black Eyebrow, Minsoy; for seed, Black 

 Eyebrow, Minsoy, Ito San; for hay, Wilson, Dun- 

 field, Hamilton, Black Eyebrow, Minsoy; for silage. 

 Hamilton, Dunfield, Midwest, Black Eyebrow, 

 Minsoy. 



It would seem that a sufficient number of varieties 

 tested out in various sections of the State might revise 

 this list considerably and show some sections of the 

 State well adapted for soybean production. 



2. CANAVALIA Adans. Fam. PI. 2:325. 1763. 

 (Here spelled Canavali; properly latinized by De 

 Candolle in DC. Prod. 2:403. 1825.) — Clementea 

 Cav. Anal. Cienc. Nat. 7:63. 1804. Malocchia 

 Savi, Nuovo Giorn. Pisa 8: 113. 1824. Wenderothia 

 Schlecht. Linnaea 12:330. 1838. Cryptophaseolus 

 O. Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 1:176. 1891. 



Twining or erect herbs or shrubs: leaves 3-foliolate: stipules 

 thin caducous; flowers numerous in axillary raceme-like thyrses: 

 bracts and bracteoles caducous; calyx bilabiate, the upper lip 

 large, 2-lobed, the lower much smaller, simple or I in the following 

 species among others ) 3-lobed; standard large, reflexed, auriculate; 

 wings free, narrow, auncled; keel curved, the petals partly united; 



1 The haploid number of chromosomes is given, based on the lists by Tischler, Tabulae Biologicae 4:34. 1926, and by L O. 

 Gaiser, Genetica 6 and 12, 1930. 



