Food Plants International - Plant Fact Sheets Phaseolus coccineus

Edible: Seeds, Pods, Leaves, Roots, Vegetable, Flowers

A climbing bean. It is a robust plant and keeps growing from year to year by re-growing from the fattened root. The stems are often hairy. It grows 1.8-2.4 m high. It can spread 1.8-2.4 m wide. It twines around a trellis. The leaves are compound and have three leaflets. The flowers are bright red. They are in clusters 2.5 cm long. The pods are long (30 cm) and with a wavy edge. The seeds are large and can be several different colours. It sometimes has a root tuber.

A tropical plant. It grows naturally in the mountain regions from Mexico to Panama. It is grown in the highlands in the tropics. On the tropical coast seedlings die and pods are not formed. It is damaged by frost. It suits hardiness zones 8-10. In Sichuan and Yunnan.

Common Names: Scarlet runner bean, Ayacote, Botil, Chamborote, Chilipuca, Climat, Cub, Cubaces, Dau son, Dutch caseknipe bean, Ejote, Fagioli rampicante di Spagna, Frejol de castilla, Frejol de monte, Frijol chamborote, Hana mame, Haricot d'Espagne, Kacang besar, Koto moruk, Laški fižol, Patol, Poroto chileno, Seven year bean, Shim

Synonyms: 

Phaseolus multiflorus Willd.;
Phaseolus coccineus var. zongolicensis Freytag, nom. inval.;
Phaseolus multiflorus Lam.;