tonqua bean: see tonka bean.

tonka bean, black-skinned, aromatic, almondlike single seed from the pod of any tall leguminous tree of the genus Dipteryx in the family Leguminosae (pulse family) of tropical South America. It contains coumarin, a fermented substance that has a vanillalike aroma and is used as a vanilla substitute and in the manufacture of perfumes, sachets, soaps, tobacco, and food. Natural coumarin has been almost completely replaced by a synthetic product. The name of the bean also appears as tonqua bean and tonquin bean. Plants producing tonka beans are classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Rosales, family Leguminosae.

lima bean: see bean.

jumping bean: see spurge.

castor bean, bean produced by Ricinus communis, a plant of the spurge family, widely cultivated as an ornamental. Moles die when they eat the roots. It has long been used as an ordeal poison in parts of Africa. Ricin, the toxic protein found in the bean seeds, can be extracted and used as a poison or chemical weapon, but it is not as poisonous or as readily absorbed as other such weapons. Castor oil is also extracted from the beans.

black-eyed bean or black-eyed pea: see cowpea.

bean weevil, common name for a well-known cosmopolitan species of beetle (Acanthoscelides obtectus) that attacks beans and is thought to be native to the United States. It belongs to the family Bruchidae, the seed beetles. The bean weevil is small, about 1/6 in. (0.4 cm) long, and stout-bodied, with a short broad snout and shortened wing covers (elytra). The adults attack legumes either in storage or in the field and may even completely destroy them. The grubs, or larvae, hatch from eggs laid in holes that have been chewed by the female into stored beans or into pods in the field. In heavy infestations there may be two dozen or more newly hatched larvae in one bean. When full-grown, the larvae form pupae in the eaten-out cavity. As many as six generations are produced in a single season, and in storage breeding continues as long as there is available food left in the beans and a warm temperature. The larvae can be killed by fumigation or by heating the seeds to 145°F; (63°C;) for two hours. Bean weevils are classified in the phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta, order Coleoptera, family Bruchidae.

bean beetle, common name for a destructive beetle, Epilachna varivestis, of the ladybird beetle family. Although nearly all other members of this family are beneficial carnivores, the bean beetle attacks leguminous plants, especially beans. Both larva and adult feed on the undersides of leaves and sometimes on the pods. The adult is yellow, with black spots; the yellow, oval-bodied larva has forked spines. Bean beetles overwinter as adults and in early spring lay masses of 10 to 50 eggs on the undersides of leaves. One to four generations occur annually, each requiring about a month to mature. Since most damage occurs during July and August, early-maturing beans suffer the least damage. Removing old bean plants helps to destroy overwintering beetles, although many escape to nearby sheltered areas. Chemical insecticides are used for control. Before 1920 the bean beetle, also called Mexican bean beetle, was found only in the SW United States, but it now occurs throughout most of the United States, except on the Pacific coast. It is classified in the phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta, order Coleoptera, family Coccinellidae.

bean, name applied to the seeds of leguminous trees and shrubs and to various leguminous plants of the family Leguminosae (pulse family) with edible seeds or seed pods (legumes). The genera and species encompassed by the term bean are many and variable. The broad beans (Vicia faba, of the vetch genus), the soybean types (Glycine max), and a few lesser species were the only beans known to the Old World before the discovery of America, by which time the indigenous peoples had already developed most of the bean types still used today, e.g., the lima beans, kidney beans, string beans, shell beans, and pea beans. All these are species and varieties of Phaseolus, the "true" bean genus; the hereditary history of most is unknown, and hence the taxonomic distinctions are often still uncertain. The plants are easily cultivated but susceptible to several diseases, e.g., rusts, blights, wilts, and bean anthracnose (a fungus).

Types of Beans

In general, beans are warm-season annuals (although the roots of tropical species tend to be perennial) that grow erect (bush types) or as vines (pole or running types). Field beans are mostly the bush type and are used as stock feed. This has also become the principal use of the ancient large-seeded broad bean (called also the horse or Windsor bean), still widely grown in Europe but seldom as food for humans.

The common garden beans comprise several bush types and most of the pole types; the most often cultivated and most varied species, P. vulgata, is familiar as both types. P. vulgata is the French haricot and the Spanish frijole. String beans, snap beans, green and yellow wax beans, and some kidney beans are eaten as whole pods; several kidney beans, pinto beans, pea beans, and many other types are sold as mature dry seeds. The lima or butter beans (P. lunatus, including the former P. limensis), usually pole but sometimes bush types, have a long history; they have been found in prehistoric Peruvian graves. The sieva is a type of lima. The scarlet runner (P. multiflorus), grown in Europe for food, is mainly an ornamental vine in North America. The tepary (P. acutifolius latifolius), a small variety long grown by Indians in the SW United States, has been found better suited to hot, arid climates and is more prolific than the frijole.

Other beans are the hyacinth bean or lablab (Dolichos lablab), grown in E Asia and the tropics for forage and food and cultivated in North America as an ornamental vine; the asparagus bean or yard-long bean (Vigna sesquipedalis), grown in E Asia for food but often cultivated in the West as a curiosity; and the velvet bean (Stizolobium), cultivated in the S United States as a forage and cover crop. The carob, the cowpea or black-eyed pea, and the chickpea or garbanzo are among the many other legumes sometimes considered beans. The sacred bean of India is the seed of the Indian lotus (of the water lily family).

Uses of Beans

Because seeds contain much protein, beans are useful as a meat substitute and in different parts of the world are a characteristic item—often a staple—of the national fare. Baked beans, cooked for hours with pork or molasses or both, are a traditional New England dish. The Greeks and Romans used the broad bean for balloting—black seeds to signify opposition and white seeds agreement. This custom lingered in England in the election of the king and queen for Twelfth Night and other celebrations and was taken to the New World colony at Massachusetts Bay, where Indian beans were used.

Classification

Beans are classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Rosales, family Leguminosae.

Mexican jumping bean: see spurge.

Bean, Roy, c.1825-1903, legendary American frontier judge, b. Mason co., Ky. He left Kentucky in 1847 to seek his fortune in California. Soon, however, he was managing a trading post in Chihuahua, Mexico. In 1849 he was chased back into U.S. territory for cattle rustling. During the Civil War, Roy Bean aided the Confederate cause by joining a band of lawless irregulars. After the war he followed the construction camps of the Southern Pacific RR as a saloonkeeper and gambler. In 1882, Bean settled at the Texas camp of Vinegaroon, had it renamed Langtry (for the English actress Lily Langtry), named himself justice of the peace (to which he added the title "the law west of the Pecos"), and set up court in his saloon, the Jersey Lily. He there began to dispense justice with the aid of one law book and a six-shooter. As a judge, Bean rendered arbitrary and unorthodox decisions, usually tempered with wit and common sense.

Vine (Pachyrhizus erosus, or P. tuberosus), also called yam bean. A legume native of Mexico and Central and South America, it is grown for its edible root. The irregularly globular, brown-skinned tubers are white-fleshed, crisp, and juicy. There are two varieties, those with clear juice and those with milky juice. Both have a mild flavour and are eaten raw or cooked. Sometimes very young seedpods of the plant are eaten, but the mature seeds are highly toxic.

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Annual legume (Glycine max, or G. soja) of the pea family (see legume) and its edible seed. The soybean plant has an erect, branching stem, white to purple flowers, and one to four seeds per pod. It was probably derived from a wild plant of East Asia, where it has been cultivated for some 5,000 years. Introduced into the U.S. in 1804, it began to be farmed widely as a livestock feed in the 1930s, and the U.S. is now the world's foremost soybean producer. Economically the world's most important bean, the soybean provides vegetable protein for millions of people and ingredients for hundreds of chemical products, including paints, adhesives, fertilizers, insect sprays, and fire-extinguisher fluids. Because soybeans contain no starch, they are a good source of protein for diabetics. Processed for food, soybean oil is made into margarine, shortening, and vegetarian cheeses and meats. Soybean meal serves as a high-protein meat substitute in many food products, including baby foods. Other food products include soybean milk, tofu, salad sprouts, and soy sauce.

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or Indian licorice

Tropical plant (Abrus precatorius; family Leguminosae). Its hard, red and black seeds, though highly poisonous, are strung into necklaces and rosaries in India and other tropical areas. In India the seeds are also used as a unit of weight (ratti).

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Large plant (Ricinus communis) of the spurge family, probably native to Africa and naturalized throughout the tropics. It is grown commercially for the pharmaceutical and industrial uses of its oil and for use in landscape gardening because of its handsome, giant, fanlike leaves. The bristly, spined, bronze-to-red clusters of fruits are attractive but are often removed before they mature because of the poison concentrated in their mottled, beanlike seeds. There are hundreds of natural forms and many horticultural varieties of this species.

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or black-eyed pea

Any of the cultivated forms of the annual legume Vigna unguiculata. The plants are believed to be native to India and the Middle East but in early times were cultivated in China. The compound leaves have three leaflets. The white, purple, or pale-yellow flowers usually grow in twos or threes at the ends of long stalks. The pods are long and cylindrical. In the southern U.S. the cowpea is grown extensively as a hay crop, as a cover or green-manure crop, or for the edible beans.

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Soft, bland, custardlike food product made from soybeans. Believed to date from China's Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220), tofu is today an important source of protein in the cuisines of East and Southeast Asia. It is made from dried soybeans that are soaked in water, crushed, and boiled to produce a solid pulp and liquid soy “milk.” Coagulants are then added to the milk to separate the curds from the whey. The resulting soft cakes are cut into squares and stored in water.

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Seed or pod of certain leguminous plants (see legume). The mature seeds of the principal food beans, except soybeans, are similar in composition, though they differ widely in eating quality. Rich in protein and providing moderate amounts of iron and vitamins B₁ and B₂, fresh or dried beans are used worldwide for cooking. Varieties differ greatly in size, shape, colour, and tenderness of the immature pods. The common string, snap, or green bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) of Central and South American origin is the dominant edible-podded bean in the U.S., second to the soybean in importance. Third in importance is the broad, or fava, bean (Vicia faba), the principal bean of Europe. The lima bean (P. limensis), of Central American origin, is commercially important in few countries outside the Americas. The scarlet runner bean (P. coccineus) is native to the New World tropics and is grown in Europe for its attractive flowers and fleshy immature pods. The mung bean, or green gram (P. aureus), is native to India and grown extensively in the Orient for food.

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(born 1825?, Mason county, Ky., U.S.—died March 16, 1903, Langtry, Texas) U.S. justice of the peace and saloonkeeper. He left Kentucky in 1847 and moved from town to town, killing at least two men in duels, before settling in Texas. During the American Civil War he first served with Confederate regulars and then was a blockade runner in Texas, becoming so prosperous that he was able to live at ease in San Antonio for some 16 years. In 1882 he moved to a site on the lower Pecos River that he named for Lillie Langtry, opened a saloon, and dispensed hard, commonsensical, and prankish rulings as an unofficial magistrate, styling himself the “law west of the Pecos.”

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(born 1825?, Mason county, Ky., U.S.—died March 16, 1903, Langtry, Texas) U.S. justice of the peace and saloonkeeper. He left Kentucky in 1847 and moved from town to town, killing at least two men in duels, before settling in Texas. During the American Civil War he first served with Confederate regulars and then was a blockade runner in Texas, becoming so prosperous that he was able to live at ease in San Antonio for some 16 years. In 1882 he moved to a site on the lower Pecos River that he named for Lillie Langtry, opened a saloon, and dispensed hard, commonsensical, and prankish rulings as an unofficial magistrate, styling himself the “law west of the Pecos.”

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