Glossary
From Beancyclopedia
- Banner-- The topmost petal on a legume flower. Also called "standard."
- Bush-- Short plants that don't require any support. May have short tendrils.
- Cornfield-- In its strictest sense refers to beans that are suitable for growing interplanted with corn, but sometimes just used as another term for a pole/climbing plant. Usually only used for old-fashioned Common Beans (Phaeolus vulgaris).
- Cranberry Bean--
- Cut-short, or Cutshort-- Common Bean varieties where the seeds grow all crowded and pressed up against each other inside their pods. Their ends flatten where they press against each other, giving them a square-ish appearance like their ends have been cut off.
- Dry Bean-- Also called a soup bean. Beans that are used when they're fully mature; hard and dry and capable of being stored for a long time. Technically you could use any bean as a dry bean, though some snap bean varieties would have a frustratingly slow, small harvest.
- Full Beans-- Snap beans that have been allowed to get "lumpy" with the developing seeds inside. Most old-timey Appalachian-style beans are tender-hulled and are meant to be eaten this way. For a more detailed description please check out Sustainable Mountain Agriculture Center's glossary.
- Greasy Beans-- Beans that lack the usual short fuzzy hairs on their pods, giving them a shiny appearance like they're slick with grease. Nothing to do with the taste or texture! These are all old-fashioned varieties particularly associated with the Appalachias.
- Half-runner-- A climbing/pole plant that's on the "short" side. Kind of a nonspecific term (unless you start fooling around with calling things quarter-runners and eighth-runners) that can indicate a plant that grows to anywhere between 4-10 feet. This is in contrast to "full-size" runners which grow pretty much to infinity. This term is purely about growth habit and doesn't reflect any hybridization with Runner Beans (Phaseolus coccineus).
- Hilum-- The "belly button" of a seed. The scar where it was attached to its pod as it developed. Also called the "eye."
- Hull--
- Horticultural-- New England term for a bean eaten in both the shelly and dry stages
- Keel-- The innermost petals of a legume flower. They are fused together at the tip and enclose the reproductive structures of the flower.
- Legume-- Any plant in the botanical family Fabaceae (formerly called Leguminosae). Includes all the human-edible things in this wiki and many other things besides, such as acacia, alfalfa, broom, clover, coral trees, gorse, indigo, kudzu, locust trees, lupins, mimosa, vetch, wattle, wisteria, and thousands of others.
- Lima Bean-- A member of the species Phaseolus lunatus. In some regions of the US, "Lima bean" refers only to the large-seeded varieties in the species, and "butterbean" to the smaller-seeded.
- October Beans--
- Outcross--
- Pod--
- Pole-- A climbing plant that needs something to grow up (perhaps a pole!).
- Reverse--
- Runner-- Can be either yet another term for a climbing/pole plant, or can refer to the species Phaseolus coccineus (Runner Beans, or in the US sometimes called Scarlet Runner Beans). I think this is needlessly confusing so in this wiki it will only be used to refer to the species.
- Shatter, Shattering-- Sometimes the completely-dry pods of some varieties will split open while still on the plant, dropping (or explosively flinging!) dry seeds everywhere. This is called "shattering" and is a "wild" trait that would've been very useful for seed dispersal in the days before domestication, but in the home garden is a bit of an annoyance.
- Shell Beans-- Also called shellies, shelly beans, or shelling beans, these are simply beans whose seeds are eaten before they're fully mature/dry. In the US we commonly eat peas and Lima beans in the shell stage (tender and a bit green). Shell beans cook more quickly than their dry counterparts.
- Snap Beans-- Also called green beans, string beans, filet beans, French beans, etc. Varieties with tender hulls that are meant to be eaten when young. Not all beans are string beans anymore, but the name persists as a general term anyway.
- SSE-- Seed Savers Exchange.
- Standard-- The topmost petal on a legume flower. Also called "banner."
- Stick Beans-- Pole beans (except perhaps growing up a stick instead of a pole).
- Twiner-- Another term for a half-runner, or for a plant that mostly has a bush growth habit but sends out a few short climbing tendrils.
- 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.
- Wing-- The paired side petals on a legume flower. They're underneath the banner/standard petal, and on the outside of the keel petal.