Botany of Beans 



253 



tinct, and the synonymy needs study. Both th'^ sieva and lima 

 are twiners, but there are bush forms. 



The tepary, now offered by seedsmen, is P. acutifolius, 

 Gray, var. latifolius, Freeman, Bull. 68, Ariz. Exp. Sta., 5S9, 

 1912. It is a slender annual, native in the southwestern U. S. 

 and Mexico, grown in hot semi-arid regions as a drought- 

 resisting dry shell bean, long cultivated by the Indians and 

 Mexicans. On poor land it is dwarf or bush, but on more 

 fertile land it makes a long twining vine : germination epigeal : 

 as grown in New York from commercial seeds it matures 

 in 3% to 4% months, is semi-bush or tall twining, with thin 

 slender stems and small leaves : flowers small, white or nearly 

 so, 1, 2 or 3 together on very short axillary peduncles : pod 

 small, 2^2 to 3 in. long and % in. broad, curved, with nearly 

 parallel sides and slender sharp beak : beans about 5, white, 

 much like the Navy pea-bean. (The word " tepary " originated 

 from the name of this bean among the Papago Indians.) 



