Wild Bean

(Phaseolus polystachios)

 

   

 

Color Photographs: Copyright Nearctica.com, Inc.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Wild Bean (Phaseolus polystachios [L.] B.S.P.)

Identification: Plant a vine, climbing over other herbs and shrubs. Flowers lilac, pealike, with two purple dots at the base of the large, upper petal. Flowers in a long raceme, each with a long flower stalk. Pods curved. Leaves with 3 leaflets. Lower leaflets asymmetrical with the lower side wider than the upper near the base of the leaflet.

Distribution: Iowa in the west, eastward to New England, southward to Florida and Texas.

Habitat: Wild Bean is found in dry woods and on sandy soil.

Flowering period: July to September.

Similar Species: The combination of the long racemes of violet flowers and the asymmetrical lower leaflets readily identify this species.

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