Read about Phaseolus in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
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Phaseolus (ancient Latin name, somewhat altered, of a bean). Leguminosae. Bean. The common garden and field beans, and also some species grown for ornament. Annual or perennial mostly twining herbs, or some of them woody at the base: lvs. mostly pinnately 3-foliolate, stipellate: peduncles axillary, bearing clusters of white, yellow, red, or purplish papilionaceous fls. and more or less compressed (flat-sided) several- to many-seeded 2-valved pods. From its allied genera, Phaseolus is separated by minute characters of calyx, style; and keel. In Phaseolus, the style is bearded along the inner side and the stigma is oblique or lateral, rather than capitate on the end of the style; the keel is coiled into a spiral body, including the 10 diadelphous (9 and 1) stamens.—Many species have been described, mostly of warm countries (P. polystachyus is native in U. S., but not cult.), but probably not more than 150 that can be clearly separated as species. The cultivated species of Phaseolus are all tropical or subtropical in nativity. Therefore they must not be subjected to frosts. Most of them are garden annuals which are planted after the danger of freezing weather has passed and the ground is well warmed. For the culture of the domesticated forms of Phaseolus, see the article on Bean. See, also Canavalia, Glycine, Mucuna, Soybean, Stizolobium, Vicia, and Vigna. Eleven species of Phaseolus are now known to be cultivated to a greater or less extent in various parts of the world. Further explorations in Mexico, Central and South America and in eastern Asia will very probably show that a number of other distinct species not here enumerated have been domesticated locally. The eleven species here treated fall into two groups, the one perennial, the other annual, at least in the United States. Index. aconitifolius, 4. compreasus, 10. multiflorus, 9. acutifolius, 8. elli'pticus, 10. Mungo, 7. adenanthus, 2. foecundus, 11. oblongus 10. amoenus, 2. gonospermus 10. puberulus, 11. angularis, 5. inamoenus, 11. retusus, 3. aureus, 7. latifolius, 8. saccharatus, 11. Bertonii, 1. latisiliguus, 11. sphaericus, 10. calcaratus, 6. limensis, 11. truxillensis, 2. Caracalla, 1. lunatus, 11. vulgaris, 10. carinatus, 10. macrocarpus, 11. Xuarezii, 11. cirrhosus, 2.
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 P. vulgaris | ||||||||||||||||
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| Phaseolus acutifolius Tepary bean Phaseolus amblyosepalus | ||||||||||||||||
| Ref: ILDIS Version 6.05 |
Phaseolus (Bean, Wild Bean [1]) is a genus in the family Fabaceae of about fifty plant species, all native to the Americas.
At least four of the species have been domesticated since pre-Columbian times for their beans. Most prominent among these is the common bean, P. vulgaris, which today is cultivated worldwide in tropical, semitropical and temperate climates.
Previous classifications placed in this genus a number of other well known species that have now been removed to genus Vigna, sometimes necessitating a change of species name. For example, older literature refers to the mung bean as Phaseolus aureus, whereas more modern sources classify it as Vigna radiata.
Phaseolus species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Common Swift, Garden Dart, Ghost Moth Hypercompe albicornis, Hypercompe icasia, the Nutmeg and various caterpillar species. Snail Flower was discovered in 1753 and in 1970 moved from the genus family of Phaseolus to the Vigna family.