Botany of Beans 



251 



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

 folded over the much shorter wings and the \Yings 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 G 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 

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

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

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

 Latin name for bean.) 



Phaseolus. Lpguminosce. 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 i^eduncle 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, i/4 in. long 

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

 by the 2 bracts, about i/4 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 8, very various 

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

 the giving of names as if the variations represent species, 



