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The word 'bean', for the Old World vegetable, existed in Old English, [3] long before the New World genus Phaseolus was known in Europe. With the Columbian exchange of domestic plants between Europe and the Americas, use of the word was extended to pod-borne seeds of Phaseolus, such as the common bean and the runner bean, and the related genus Vigna.
The inflorescence is a raceme of yellow, blue, or purple pea flowers. The fruit is a legume pod of varying shapes containing seeds. [4] Familiar food species include the adzuki bean (V. angularis), the black gram (V. mungo), the cowpea (V. unguiculata, including the variety known as the black-eyed pea), and the mung bean (V. radiata).
Well-known legumes include beans, chickpeas, peanuts, lentils, lupins, mesquite, carob, tamarind, alfalfa, and clover. Legumes produce a botanically unique type of fruit – a simple dry fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually dehisces (opens along a seam) on two sides.
The name 'Fabaceae' comes from the defunct genus Faba, now included in Vicia. The term "faba" comes from Latin, and appears to simply mean "bean". Leguminosae is an older name still considered valid, [6] and refers to the fruit of these plants, which are called legumes.
The generic name Phaseolus was introduced by Linnaeus in 1753, [7] from the Latin phaseolus, a diminutive of phasēlus, in turn borrowed from Greek φάσηλος / phasēlos of unknown origin. [ 8 ] [ 9 ] The Ancient Greeks probably referred to any bean in a pod as phasēlos , [ 10 ] which at the time, in Europe, were only of Asian origin.
The tree does not flower but still grow male and female sporing organs from single long stems 3–6 centimetres long. [5] [3] Male strobili are small and arranged in long stalks which are often mistaken for flowers, melinjo fruit instead are produced from fertilizing the female strobili. [4]
Parkia timoriana is a species of flowering plant in the legume family. English common names include tree bean. [2] [3] [4] It is native to Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia, and Assam and Manipur in India. It is widely cultivated for food and wood, [5] and as an ornamental. [6] The tree is vulnerable to the pest insect Cadra cautella, a moth.
Dipteryx odorata (commonly known as "cumaru", "kumaru", or "Brazilian teak") is a species of flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae. The tree is native to Northern South America [2] and is semi-deciduous. [3] Its seeds are known as tonka beans (sometimes tonkin beans or tonquin beans). They are black and wrinkled and have a smooth, brown ...