Thicket Bean. Wild bean (Phaseolus polystachios)

Family: Fabaceae | Edibility: Edible (2/5)

Phaseolus polystachios is a herbaceous perennial climbing plant. In spite of its common name, it is more closely related to the lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus), and it holds potential as a crop wild relative due to its resistance to white mold (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum).

Edible Parts & Harvest Seasons

Edible Parts: Nuts/Seeds

Harvest Seasons: Fall, Late Summer

Flavor & Culinary Uses

Edible Portion: The seeds are eaten, fresh or dried. Seeds - cooked. The elongate seedpod can be 70mm long and 12 mm wide, containing black, squarish seeds around 6mm long, 6 - 7mm wide and 4mm thick. Carbon farming - Staple Crop: protein. — Edible Portion: The seeds are eaten, fresh or dried.; The elongate seedpod can be 70mm long and 12 mm wide, containing black, squarish seeds around 6mm long, 6 - 7mm wide and 4mm thick.; Carbon farming - Staple Crop: protein.

Habitat & North American Range

A temperate plant. It grows in dry woods and sandy thickets. Climbing on shrubs and young trees in moist thickets, clearings and edges of deciduous forests, in deep swamps and sometimes on dry sandy, dry shale and rocky hillsides. (Zone 6, Zone 7, Zone 8, Zone 9, Zone 10)