'Old Homestead Kentucky Wonder'
Common Name: bean
Type: Annual
Family: Fabaceae
Native Range: Central and South America
Zone: 2 to 11
Height: 2.00 to 15.00 feet
Spread: 2.00 to 3.00 feet
Bloom Time: Seasonal bloomer
Bloom Description: Pink, red, white or yellow
Sun: Full sun
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Medium
Suggested Use: Annual, Vegetable
Flower: Showy
Fruit: Showy, Edible
Culture
Best grown in consistently moist, fertile, organically-rich, well-drained loams in full sun. Propagate by seed which should be planted at the time of the last spring frost date. Bush beans are usually planted without support in rows. Pole beans are also best grown in rows but up a pole, stake or tripod. Harvest time for beans is 45-60 days for common bush beans, 55-65 days for pole beans and 75-100 or more days for shell/dry beans.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Phaseolus vulgaris, commonly known as bean, is a large genus of annual vegetables in the pea family that are primarily native to Central America and South America, with a few species native to North America. Columbus reportedly introduced some plants of this genus to the Mediterranean in 1493 when he returned from his second voyage to the New World.
Beans are legumes which acquire nitrogen from the air. Beans in this genus have trifoliate compound leaves with ovate to ovate-orbicular leaflets, bilaterally symmetrical pea-shaped flowers in clusters from the leaf axils and elongate pods that contain from three to a dozen or more seeds. Colors and shapes of pods and seeds vary considerably.
Common names given to bean varieties generally refer to culinary use. Commercially, most beans in the genus are classified as (1) pod/snap beans (string beans, stringless beans, pole beans or wax beans in tender tasty immature pods), (2) shell beans (pod is not eaten, but beans are shelled from the pod when swollen and somewhat dry but prior to full maturity) or (3) dry beans (removed from the pod at full maturity only after totally drying and beginning to rattle around inside the pod). Examples of dry beans (some of which may be shelled if picked prior to maturity) include black beans, cranberry beans, kidney beans, pea beans, pinto beans, white beans, navy beans, yellow beans and cannellini.
Common green beans in edible pods are one of the most important food legumes in the world today. Bush varieties are self-supporting and generally grow to 18-30” tall or more. Climbing or trailing varieties (pole beans) need a support structure on which to grow, but may be allowed to trail along the ground with stems growing to as much as 15’ in length. Flowers are pink, red, white or yellow. Pods are green, purple or yellow.
Genus name comes from the Greek word for fava beans or an ancient Greek one for a species of Vigna.
Specific epithet from Latin means common.
Problems
Mosaic viral disease (stunted yellow-mottled leaves), bacterial blight (irregular brown leaf blotches surrounded by yellow halos), and anthracnose (cankered pods) may appear. Additional potential disease problems include powdery mildew and white mold. Mexican bean beetles and Japanese beetles may chew holes in foliage. Watch for aphids and leafhoppers.
Uses
Annual for vegetable gardens. The pods have good flavor and are suitable for eating raw or cooked.
FAQs
vulgaris shares many of the features characterising the family, but two features distinguish the entire Phaseolus genus from the rest of the family: the keel of the flower terminates in a coil, having from one to two turns (Bailey, 1975; Purseglove, 1968; Gentry, 1969), and uncinate hairs are present on both vegetative ...
Where is the Phaseolus vulgaris plant? ›
Phaseolus vulgaris L., known in our country as “poroto”, is an angiosperm, dicotyledonous belonging to the family Fabaceae. It is native to southern Mexico, Central and South America.
How fast do Phaseolus vulgaris grow? ›
Harvest time for beans is 45-60 days for common bush beans, 55-65 days for pole beans and 75-100 or more days for shell/dry beans.
What kind of soil does a Phaseolus vulgaris like? ›
Requirements
| Hardiness | 2 - 11 What's My Zone? |
|---|
| Water Needs | Average |
| Soil Type | Chalk, Clay, Loam, Sand |
| Soil pH | Acid, Alkaline, Neutral |
| Soil Drainage | Moist but Well-Drained |
10 more rowsAs a toxin, it can cause poisoning in monogastric animals, such as humans, through the consumption of raw or improperly prepared kidney beans. The primary symptoms of the poisoning induced by this lectin include nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Are Phaseolus vulgaris leaves edible? ›
Phaseolus vulgaris L. (Fabaceae) also known as the common bean or French bean is a herbaceous annual plant, grown worldwide for its edible beans, used both as the dry seed and as unripe fruits. The leaf is occasionally used as a vegetable, and the straw is used for fodder.
How do you harvest Phaseolus vulgaris? ›
Bean pods can be handpicked, or whole plants can be cut at the base. Most gardeners collect fruits from pole beans by hand as they mature, and even if entire bush bean plants are to be harvested only for seeds, handpicking pods is common on the home garden scale.
Is Phaseolus vulgaris a bush bean? ›
The common bean has a long history of cultivation. All wild members of the species have a climbing habit, but many cultivars are classified either as bush beans or climbing beans, depending on their style of growth.
What are the health benefits of Phaseolus vulgaris? ›
Phaseolus vulgaris beans and bean pods are a source of dietary fiber, protein, and carbohydrates. Fiber might help reduce how much cholesterol the body absorbs. Enzymes in Phaseolus vulgaris beans might also decrease how much starch the body absorbs. People use Phaseolus vulgaris for obesity.
Do snap beans need a lot of water? ›
After planting, mulch the ground surface to preserve soil moisture and deter weeds. Be sure that the plants get about an inch of water per week. Water the soil, not the plants. To ensure a long harvest season for bush beans, plant new seeds every two weeks.
Pole-type snap beans will require a sturdy trellis for support. Many types of homemade trellises work well as long as they provide the needed support. Trellises should be at least 6 to 8 feet tall and sturdy enough to withstand strong winds and rain. Pole-type snap beans will require a sturdy trellis for support.
How do I encourage beans to flower? ›
To promote flowering you need to have potassium (potash) fertiliser to help initiate flowering. It sounds like your soil may be rich in nitrogen which will give you the healthy green growth which comes from adding nitrogen rich material such as compost, blood and bone, sheep pellets to the soil.
What are some fun facts about Phaseolus vulgaris? ›
Facts. Kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) includes several other cultivars such as garden bean, pole bean, and string bean in our region, and several thousand others worldwide. It was domesticated in the ancient Andes some eight thousand years ago, and remains the most important vegetable protein source for humanity.
What is the local name for Phaseolus vulgaris? ›
vulgaris as French bean, kidney bean, haricot bean, common bean, pop bean, runner bean, wax bean, climbing bean, bush bean, or dry bean. ...
What is the spacing of Phaseolus vulgaris? ›
French bean can be sown twice a year, in January-February and July-September in the plains and March to June in the hills. Dwarf or bush types are sown with the spacing of row-to-row 40-50 cm and plant-to- Plant spacing of 10 cm while pole type, at 60-65 cm x 10-12 cm. The seed should be sown at 2- 3 cm depth in soil.
What is the morphology of the Phaseolus vulgaris? ›
The beans are smooth, plump, kidney-shaped, up to 1.5 cm long, range widely in color and are often mottled in two or more colors. The beans maintain their germination capacity up to 5 years. Like most species from Phaseolus, the genome of P. vulgaris has 11 chromosomal pairs (2n = 22).
What color are the flowers in Phaseolus vulgaris? ›
Pea-shaped flowers of white to pink to purplish, zygomorphic, arranged in clusters called raceme. Slender pods with 3 - 12 seeds, green and turn to brown or black when dry. The genus epithet 'Phaseolus' refers to bean. The specific epithet 'vulgaris' means common.
What is the difference between Phaseolus coccineus and Phaseolus vulgaris? ›
You can distinguish between both these two species thanks to the pods. Phaseolus coccineus has thicker pods. Those of Phaseolus vulgaris are thinner and smoother.
How do you identify a lima bean? ›
The lima bean is a green or light green flat bean (Phaseolus limensis or Phaseolus lunatus; Figure 1.4). It is used only for the seed, the pods being coarse or woody. There are two varieties, a climbing or pole variety and a dwarf or bush variety, which is used in commercial canning.
