Tepary bean

Question

Phaseolus acutifolius
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Genus:	Phaseolus
Species:	P. acutifolius
Binomial name
Phaseolus acutifolius A.Gray
Synonyms
Phaseolus acutifolius var. tenuifolius A.Gray Phaseolus tenuifolius (A. Gray) Wooton & Standl.

Phaseolus acutifolius, the Tepary bean, is native to the southwestern United States and Mexico and has been grown there by the native peoples since pre-Columbian times. It is more drought-resistant than the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) and is grown in desert and semi-desert conditions from Arizona through Mexico to Costa Rica. The water requirements are low and the crop will grow in areas where annual rainfall is less than 400 mm (16 in).

The tepary bean is an annual and can be climbing, trailing, or erect with stems up to 4 m (13 ft) long. A narrow leafed, variety tenuifolius, and a broader leafed, variety latifolius, are known. Domestic varieties are derived from latifolius. In the Sonora desert, "the flowers appear with the summer rains, first appearing in late August, with the pods ripening early in the fall dry season, most of them in October." The beans can be of nearly any color. There are many local landraces. Beans vary in size but tend to be small. They mature 60 to 120 days after planting.

Other names for this native bean include Pawi, Pavi, Tepari, Escomite, Yori mui, Yorimuni and Yori muni. The name tepary may derive from the Tohono O'odham phrase t'pawi or "It's a bean". It should be noted that the name for a small bean was recorded in the 17th century, in the now extinct Eudeve language of northern Mexico, as tépar (accusative case, tépari). Names that contain yori in them typically refer to non-native species of beans since those names mean 'non-Indian person's bean'.

Tepary beans are the most drought tolerant legume. Germination, however, requires wet soil although the plants will flourish in dry conditions thereafter. Too much water inhibits bean production. Cultivated beans have been found dating to 5,000 BCE in the Tehuacán Valley in Mexico. They were cultivated by Indians by various methods, most commonly after an infrequent rain in the desert or after flood waters along a river or ephemeral stream had subsided. The tepary bean is relatively disease free, except under conditions of high humidity.

• Phaseolus acutifolius var. tenuifolius A.Gray
• Phaseolus tenuifolius (A. Gray) Wooton & Standl.

• The Tepary Bean
• Bean, Tepary — Phaseolus acutifolius A. Gray
• Papago (Tohono O'odham) Tepary Bean Soup
• NRCS: USDA Plants Profile Phaseolus acutifolius A. Gray , var. acutifolius, var. latifolius Freeman
• Reynoso-Camacho R, González de Mejía E, Loarca-Piña G (January 2003). "Purification and acute toxicity of a lectin extracted from tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius)". Food Chem. Toxicol. 41 (1): 21–7. doi:10.1016/S0278-6915(02)00215-6. PMID 12453724. 
• García-Gasca T, Salazar-Olivo LA, Mendiola-Olaya E, Blanco-Labra A (June 2002). "The effects of a protease inhibitor fraction from tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius) on in vitro cell proliferation and cell adhesion of transformed cells". Toxicol In Vitro. 16 (3): 229–33. doi:10.1016/S0887-2333(02)00006-1. PMID 12020595. 
• Valadez Vega MD, Alvarez M, Dubón G, García CA, Abdullaev F (July 12–16, 2004). "Cytotoxicity of tepary bean lectins (Phaseolus acutifolius lectins) on human malignant cells". IFT Annual Meeting. Las Vegas, NV. 49I-2. 

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Wikipedia