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Phaseolus vulgaris
Fabaceae FAMILY

Phaseolus vulgaris

Phaseolus vulgaris

Edibility
5/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

Large quantities of the raw mature seed are poisonous[1, 2]. Children eating just a few seeds have shown mild forms of poisoning with nausea and diarrhoea, though complete recovery took place in 12 - 24 hours[3]. The toxins play a role in protecting the plant from insect predation[4].

Cultivation Details

HabitPerennial
Growth—

Phaseolus vulgaris is native to the tropics of the Americas, where it is usually found at elevations above 600 metres, though good crops can be obtained down to sea level[5]. It can also be grown as a summer crop in regions of the temperate zone with a growing season of three months or more. A temperature in the range 19 - 27°c is preferred - above 30°c many flowers will abort and above 35°c seed is rarely produced[5]. Climbing forms of the plant can succeed in areas of high rainfall, but dwarf forms appear to be more sensitive to high soil moisture levels[5]. Heavy rain adversely affects fertilization[5]. Plants require a dry season in order to mature the seed[5]. Requires a warm sunny position in a rich well-drained preferably light soil with plenty of moisture in the growing season[6, 7, 8]. Dislikes heavy, wet or acid soils[9, 7]. Grows well in moderately heavy loam soils so long as they are well drained[5].Prefers a pH in the range 5.5 to 6.5[8]. There are many named forms, and these have been adapted for growing in the temperate, subtropical and tropical zones as well as in montane valleys of the tropics[5]. The plant is often grown to provide a major part of the protein requirement[10, 3]. Immature pods of the dwarf forms can be harvested in about 40 - 60 days from sowing (70 - 90 days for climbing forms) whilst total yields of pods can reach 3 - 5 tonnes per hectare from the dwarf forms (4 - 6 tonnes from the climbing forms)[5]. A very variable plant, there are more than 1,000 named varieties ranging from dwarf forms about 30cm tall to climbing forms up to 3 metres tall[10, 11, 8, 3]. The dwarf forms are daylength neutral and early maturing[5]. Climbing forms, which can be either daylength neutral or short daylength types, take longer to mature a crop[5]. When grown for their edible pods, the immature pods should be harvested regularly in order to promote extra flower production and therefore higher yields[8]. Yields of green pods averages about 3kg per square metre, though double this can be achieved[8]. French beans grow well with strawberries, carrots, cauliflowers, cucumbers, cabbage, beet, leek and celeriac[12, 13]. They are inhibited by alliums and fennel growing nearby[12, 13]. This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria, these bacteria form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby[8]. When removing plant remains at the end of the growing season, it is best to only remove the aerial parts of the plant, leaving the roots in the ground to decay and release their nitrogen.

Propagation

Pre-soak the seed for 12 hours in warm water and sow in mid spring in a greenhouse. Germination should take place within 10 days. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out after the last expected frosts. The seed can also be sown in situ in late spring though it may not ripen its seed in a cool summer. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Phaseolus+vulgaris>

Pollinators

Bees

References

  1. [1]Poisonous Plants and Animals. — Altmann. H. · Chatto and Windus · 1980 · ISBN 0-7011-2526-8 ↩︎A small book, reasonable but not very detailed.
  2. [2]A Colour Atlas of Poisonous Plants. — Frohne. D. and Pfänder. J. · Wolfe · 1984 · ISBN 0723408394 ↩︎Brilliant. Goes into technical details but in a very readable way. The best work on the subject that I've come across so far.
  3. [3]Handbook of Energy Crops — Duke. J. · - · 1983 · https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/dukeindex.html · ISBN - ↩︎Published only on the Internet, excellent information on a wide range of both temperate and tropical plants.
  4. [4]Poisonous Plants in Britain and their Effects on Animals and Man. — Cooper. M. and Johnson. A. · HMSO · 1984 · ISBN 0112425291 ↩︎Concentrates mainly on the effects of poisonous plants to livestock.
  5. [5]Vegetables in the Tropics — Tindall. H. D. · MacMillan, Oxford. · 1983 · ISBN 0-333-24268-8 ↩︎An excellent, in-depth look at the main vegetable crops that can be grown in the Tropics, plus many less well-known plants.
  6. [6]The Vegetable Garden. — Vilmorin. A. · Ten Speed Press · ISBN 0-89815-041-8 ↩︎A reprint of a nineteenth century classic, giving details of vegetable varieties. Not really that informative though.
  7. [7]The Gardener's Assistant. — Thompson. B. · Blackie and Son. · 1878 · ISBN - ↩︎Excellent general but extensive guide to gardening practices in the 19th century. A very good section on fruits and vegetables with many little known species.
  8. [8]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  9. [9]New Vegetable Growers Handbook. — Simons. · Penguin · 1977 · ISBN 0-14-046-050-0 ↩︎A good guide to growing vegetables in temperate areas, not entirely organic.
  10. [10]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications · 1990 · ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 ↩︎Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
  11. [11]Planting Native Trees and Shrubs. — Beckett. G. and K. · Jarrold · 1979 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent guide to native British trees and shrubs with lots of details about the plants.
  12. [12]Companion Plants. — Philbrick H. and Gregg R. B. · Watkins · 1979 · ISBN - ↩︎Details of beneficial and antagonistic relationships between neighbouring plants.
  13. [13]Companion Planting for Successful Gardening. — Riotte. L. · Garden Way, Vermont, USA. · 1978 · ISBN 0-88266-064-0 ↩︎Fairly good.
  14. [14]Taxonomy, Distribution, and Ecology of the Genus Phaseolus (Leguminosae-Papilionoideae) in North America, Mexico and — Freytag G.F. & Debouck D.G. · Botanical Researeh Institute of Texas · 2002 · http://www.brit.org/sida · ISBN 1-889878-11-1 ↩︎An excellent, detailed study of the genus Phaseolus, it has been made available on-line as an open access document.
  15. [15]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  16. [16]Tanaka's Cyclopedia of Edible Plants of the World. — Tanaka. T. & Nakao S. · Keigaku Publishing; Tokyo · 1976 · ISBN - ↩︎The most comprehensive list of edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.
  17. [17]Encyclopaedia of Medicinal Plants. — Chiej. R. · MacDonald · 1984 · ISBN 0-356-10541-5 ↩︎Covers plants growing in Europe. Also gives other interesting information on the plants. Good photographs.
  18. [18]Plants for Human Consumption. — Kunkel. G. · Koeltz Scientific Books · 1984 · ISBN 3874292169 ↩︎An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of Latin names with a brief list of edible parts.
  19. [19]Medicinal Plants of China — Duke. J. A. and Ayensu. E. S. · Reference Publications, Inc. · 1985 · ISBN 0-917256-20-4 ↩︎Details of over 1,200 medicinal plants of China and brief details of their uses. Often includes an analysis, or at least a list of constituents. Heavy going if you are not into the subject.
  20. [20]Edible and Medicinal Plants. — Launert. E. · Hamlyn · 1981 · ISBN 0-600-37216-2 ↩︎Covers plants in Europe. a drawing of each plant, quite a bit of interesting information.
  21. [21]A Modern Herbal. — Grieve. · Penguin · 1984 · ISBN 0-14-046-440-9 ↩︎Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
  22. [22]Homeopathic Materia Medica — William Boericke, M.D. · http://www.homeoint.org/books/boericmm/index.htm ↩︎An on-line version of the book
  23. [23]Nature's Colors - Dyes from Plants. — Grae. I. · MacMillan Publishing Co. New York. · 1974 · ISBN 0-02-544950-8 ↩︎A very good and readable book on dyeing.
  24. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎