Hedrick, U.P. editor. 1919. Sturtevant's Notes on Edible Plants. Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station for the Year 1919 II. Albany, J.B Lyon Company, State Printers. [References Available]
is a plant of the tropics of India and China. A number of varieties of this bean are cultivated in Asiatic countries for the pulse and the tender pods. There is a great diversity in the color of the flowers, size and shape of pod and color of seeds. Roxburgh describes var. rectum, pods straight, seeds reddish, flowers white, large; called pauch-seem: Var. falcatum minus, pods falcate, size of the little finger, flowers white, largish; called baghonuko-seem: Var. falcatum majus, pods falcate, flowers purple; called dood-pituli-seemgladiatum flore albo, pods gladiate-clavate, length of the little finger, flowers white; called sada-jamai-puli-seem: Var. gladiatum flore purpureo, called pituli-jamai-puli-seem: Var. macrocarpum, the largest of all, pods six to eight inches long, seeds black with a white eye, flowers red; called gychi-seem.
A great number of synonyms which have been assigned to this species is indicative of the variable character of the plant. In India, where it is much cultivated, four eatable varieties which are offered for sale in the bazaars during the cold sseason, are thus described by Roxburgh: Var. albiflorum, the shevet-seem, flowers whtie, smallish, cultivated in gardens as a pole bean; the tender pods are eaten, the seeds never; the plant has a disagreeable smell: Var. rubiflorum, the jeea-seem, flowers red, cultivated and much esteemed by the natives: Var. purpurascens, the goordal-seem, a large variety with large, purple flowers: Var. purpureum, the ruk-to-seem, stem and large flowers purple, the pods deep purple. Wight calls the species a very valuable pulse generally esteemed by all classes of natives and very extensively cultivated in Mysore. In Jamaica, it is called the bonavista-bean and is cultivated in most parts of the country.
The bean is wholesome, palatable food and is in general use. On the east coast of Africa, the leaves are dried and made into a spinach.
