Glossary

• Hilum-- the scar on a seed at the spot where it used to be attached to the pod (like the botanical equivalent of a belly button). Also called the "eye."

• Horticultural-- New England term for a bean eaten in both the shelly and dry stages

• Shelly, Shell, or Shelling-- beans eaten at the stage where they're mostly but not all the way mature, so they're still soft-ish and full of moisture, and often not fully pigmented. The bean equivalent of garden/English/shelling peas.

• SSE-- Seed Savers Exchange.

• USDA-- United States Department of Agriculture, the organization in charge of the National Genetic Resources Program, which in turn is in charge of the US's national germplasm/seed bank.