BEAN FACTS: Most edible-podded beans can be grown over wide ranges of territory if they are planted at suitable times. The edible-podded varieties are popular in many countries, especially in Europe. In the United States the predominant edible-podded bean is the common string, snap, or green bean (P. vulgaris).

Of Central American origin, the lima bean (P. limensis) is of commercial importance in few countries outside the Americas. Grown only for food, dry mature lima beans constitute approximately 2 1/2 percent of the total dry-bean production in the United States. There is a wide range of pod size and shape and of seed size, shape, thickness,and colour in both bush and climbing forms. Pods are wide, flat, and slightly curved. Thelima bean is readily distinguished by the characteristic fine ridges in the seed coat that radiate from the “eye.” A perennial in the tropics, elsewhere it is normally grown as an annual; it requires a longer season and warmer weather than most varieties of common American bean.