Beans (genus Phaseolus)

Genus of Faboideae

Food, Plant source foods, Flowering plats (angiospermae), Mesangiosperms, Eudicots, Core eudicots, Superrosids, Rosids, Fabids (Eurosids I), Fabales, Fabaceae (Leguminosae), Faboideae

Availability: We were unable to find reliable data on the distribution of this genus, but only figures regarding the overall distribution of “beans” (a food category that also includes the Vigna genus). In any case, the available data are as follows

Countries that consumed more than 1 kg per person in 2022: Albania 🇦🇱, Algeria 🇩🇿, Andorra 🇦🇩, Angola 🇦🇴, Antigua and Barbuda 🇦🇬, Argentina 🇦🇷, Australia 🇦🇺, Benin 🇧🇯, Bolivia 🇧🇴, Bosnia and Herzegovina 🇧🇦, Brazil 🇧🇷, Brunei 🇧🇳, Bulgaria 🇧🇬, Burundi 🇧🇮, Cambodia 🇰🇭, Cameroon 🇨🇲, Canada 🇨🇦, Cape Verde 🇨🇻, Chad 🇹🇩, Chile 🇨🇱, City of Vatican 🇻🇦, Colombia 🇨🇴, Congo 🇨🇬, Côte d’Ivoire 🇨🇮, Costa Rica 🇨🇷, Cuba 🇨🇺, Democratic Republic of the Congo 🇨🇫, Dominican Republic 🇩🇴, Dominica 🇩🇲, Djibouti 🇩🇯, El Salvador 🇸🇻, Eswatini 🇸🇿, Ethiopia 🇪🇹, Ghana 🇬🇭, Greece 🇬🇷, Grenada 🇬🇩, Guyana 🇬🇾, Haiti 🇭🇹, Honduras 🇭🇳, India 🇮🇳, Iran 🇮🇷, Iraq 🇮🇶, Israel 🇮🇱, Italy 🇮🇹, Jamaica 🇯🇲, Kazakhstan 🇰🇿, Kenya 🇰🇪, Kyrgyzstan 🇰🇬, Lebanon 🇱🇧, Lesotho 🇱🇸, Libya 🇱🇾, North Macedonia 🇲🇰, Malawi 🇲🇼, Malaysia 🇲🇾, Mali 🇲🇱, Mauritania 🇲🇷, Mauritius 🇲🇷, Mexico 🇲🇽, Moldova 🇲🇩, Montenegro 🇲🇪, Mozambique 🇲🇿, Myanmar 🇲🇲, Nicaragua 🇳🇮, New Zealand 🇳🇿, North Korea 🇰🇵, Oman 🇴🇲, Pakistan 🇵🇰, Panama 🇵🇦, Paraguay 🇵🇾, Peru 🇵🇪, Portugal 🇵🇹, Qatar 🇶🇦, Romania 🇷🇴, Rwanda 🇷🇼, Saint Kitts and Nevis 🇰🇳, San Marino 🇸🇲, São Tomé and Príncipe 🇸🇹, Serbia 🇷🇸, Singapore 🇸🇬, Somalia 🇸🇴, South Korea 🇰🇷, South Sudan 🇸🇸, Spain 🇪🇸, Sudan 🇸🇩, United States of America 🇺🇸, Tajikistan 🇹🇯, Tanzania 🇹🇿, Timor-Leste 🇹🇱, Togo 🇹🇬, Turkey 🇹🇷, Uganda 🇺🇬, United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪, Uruguay 🇺🇾, Venezuela 🇻🇪, Vietnam 🇻🇳, Zambia 🇿🇲

Note: For better understanding, please read the article on flowering plants (angiospermae) first. If you come across unfamiliar words, you can click on any highlighted term to open the glossary with definitions of key botanical terms.

Introduction

Beans (genus Phaseolus), represents a genus of herbaceous to woody vines, encompassing both annual and perennial forms. Belonging to the Fabaceae family, it includes roughly seventy species, all native to the Americas, with a strong concentration in Mesoamerica.

This genus ranks among the most significant groups of legumes from an economic standpoint. Since pre-Columbian times, five species have been domesticated for their edible seeds: tepary bean, runner bean, year bean, lima bean, and common bean. Of these, the common bean holds the greatest prominence, now cultivated on a global scale across tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions.

Description of beans (genus Phaseolus)

Most species in this genus are annual herbs with a mainly climbing growth habit, although some are perennial or have a non-climbing form. Their leaves are alternate, compound, and imparipinnate, typically composed of three to five oval, pointed leaflets.

The flowers are irregular, with five petals and the typical papilionaceous corolla of legumes, arranged in lateral inflorescences. They occur most often in white, red, pink, or purple. The fruit is a pod (or legume), its color ranging from green to yellow, brown, or purple depending on the species and variety. Each contains five to twelve seeds and, if not harvested, will split open naturally to disperse them, a trait of dehiscent fruits. The roots bear nodules that host bacteria able to fix atmospheric nitrogen.

Classification of beans (genus Phaseolus)

This genus is divided into several species, including:

• Common bean
• Lima bean
• Runner bean
• Tepary bean