Subject: Re: Pole beans

From: [email-masked] (GRKRIEBEL)
Date: 3 Mar 1995 03:11:04 -0500

I hope you get an answer to your quest as to what variety the beans are. 
I don't know.  I'm just another appreciator of pole beans.  My grandfather
gave me some pole lima beans - what look like standard whites.  In fact he
called them Taylor Standards- from New Jersey ( the garden state). 
  Where do we locate seed bank info on this internet?  I've read of such
organizations but can't find any leads off hand.
Good luck, and I'd like to hear of any of your info on pole twisters. 
(you know, of course, that all pole beans grow counterclockwise in this
hemisphere).
Sure , lets trade some beans!
I wonder how well they'd grow up here in Oregon.  My limas take lots of
care to assure that they don't rot in the ground as they germinate.  After
they're up, however they do great.  I alwys wish I had more sun in June.
Be in touch

[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 2 Mar 95 21:29:17 -0600

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Joel Birkeland) writes:
> My late grandfather-in-law gave me some beans which he said were discovered
> by an archaeologist friend in a prehistoric cave dweling in Peru.  They
> look like Lima beans except they are brick red with black mottling.

Caves are good spots for seed storage (esp. dry caves), and are still
often used for that purpose by local people.  I remember talking to
someone in New Mexico who had been using a local cave as a stash for
home-saved seeds, and had been having trouble with people looking
for "indian pottery" swiping his seeds and containers.  He joked he
was going to start putting years on the sides of the containers he
was using in Magic Marker.  ;-)

My guess is that is just how your Peruvian seeds were acquired, since
legume seeds don't retain viability for more than about 100 years, as
near as anyone can tell.

You may indeed have a cultivar of lima beans with colored seeds.  There's
actually a lot of variability in limas, but we don't see them in 
the US, due to a regulation that prevents the sale of lima beans
that contain more than a minimal amount of linamarin, a cyanogenic
glycoside.  This glycoside decomposes to HCN, hydrogen cyanide and
a sugar derivative during cooking.  At the amounts present in 
the cultivars sold in the US, the cyanide is not a problem, but
in cultivars sold in other countries, the amounts may be 20-30x
as high.

The moral of the story is don't cook lima beans in a covered
pot, which will keep the cyanide fumes contained... and release
them when the cook uncovers the pot!

Kay Klier  [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Joel Birkeland)
Date: 2 Mar 1995 19:57:29 GMT

I planted some here in central Arizona last summer.  They grew vines rapidly
to 10 feet, and probably would have gone to 20 feet if I had had the room.
They bloomed all summer long, but set no fruit until October, and then succumbed
to frost in November.  Consequently the yield was rather low, but I did manage
to get about a cupful of dried beans from them.

Does my description above sound like anything you may have heard of before?
I would appreciate any information y'all can provide.  Since they don't seem
very well suited to central Arizona, I would consider trading some to a person
in a more temperate clime.

Thanks for your help,

Joel Birkeland

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From: [email-masked] (Jen Mayer)
Date: Sat, 4 Mar 1995 01:16:00 GMT

JB> I planted some here in central Arizona last summer.  They grew vines
JB> rapidly to 10 feet, and probably would have gone to 20 feet if I had
JB> had the room. They bloomed all summer long, but set no fruit until
JB> October, and then succumbe

They sound like Scarlet Runner Beans.  What color flowers?

 * RM 1.3 01256 * Will Rogers never met a lawyer....

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From: [email-masked] (Jen Mayer)
Date: Sat, 4 Mar 1995 01:16:00 GMT