Beans
Bean is the common name widely
applied to many plants of the legume family. Most
beans belong to the subfamily Papilionoideae of
the family Fabaceae (formerly Leguminosae). The
seeds and pods of these plants are used for food
and forage. The seeds themselves are also called
beans and are valuable as food because of their
high protein content. The seeds or fruits of certain
other plants, such as the coffee tree and the
castor-oil plant (see Castor Bean), are also called
beans. The broad bean, also called horsebean or
Windsor bean, has been cultivated since prehistoric
times and is still the most common bean in many
parts of Europe. Various species are cultivated
in the United States under the name of vetch.
Most of the beans of the United States and the
frijoles of Mexico belong to the same genus. The
cowpea, asparagus bean, and hyacinth bean are
also cultivated, particularly for forage.
The soybean is the common bean
of the Orient and has been more widely cultivated
in the United States in recent years than have
native varieties of bean. Most soybeans are grown
today for their oil, which is used in industrial
manufacturing and as fodder for livestock. Hundreds
of varieties of the common garden bean of the
United States are cultivated. The young pods are
called string, or snap, beans if green; they are
called wax, or butter, beans if yellowish. The
small variety is often called navy bean and the
large purplish variety, kidney bean. The next
most important species in the United States is
the lima, or sugar, bean, regarded by some botanists
as a variety of the civet bean. Because it is
drought resistant, the tepary is cultivated in
Mexico and in the southwestern United States.
For cultivating, beans
are divided into two groups: pole beans, or vines
requiring a pole for support; and bush beans,
erect shrubs of low, spreading growth. Many of
the species, notably the common garden bean of
the United States, have varieties in both groups,
and the groups overlap one another. Although some
of the bean plants are perennials, most of the
important cultivated species are annuals and are
sown in rich, loose, warm soil after all danger
of frost is past.
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