Phaseolus lunatus L.
[Lima bean, Sugar bean] SEED
To Japanese version
- <The situation in Japan and information from the NIAS genebank>
- The lima bean is called "Lai mame" or "Aoi mame".
It is considered to have been introduced into Japan during the Edo period
(16th to 18th century) (Hoshikawa 1981). This legume is not a popular crop.
In Japan, dry seeds are cooked as "nimame" (boiled bean sweetened
- The available archaeological evidence supports the hypothesis that
the small seeded lima beans have been domesticated in Mesoamerica while
the large-seeded types have been domesticated in South America. Based on
the review of the available information, Salgado et al.(1995) show that
wild forms can be divided into two groups, one with smaller seeds and a
very extensive distribution that includes Mexico, Central America, and
the eastern slope of the Andes, and the other with a more restricted distribution
on the western slope of the Andes in Equador and northern Peru. Their results
of the analysis of seed protein by SDS-PAGE confirmed this subdivision
and, additionally, showed that the large-seeded cultivars have been domesticated
from the large-seeded wild lima beans in western South America. For the
small-seeded lima bean cultivars, it was not possible to determine a domestication
- The genus Phaseolus, together with the closely related genus
Vigna, forms a very complicated taxonomic group, so called Phaseolus-Vigna
complex. Verdcourt (1970) proposed a very restricted concept of Phaseolus,
limiting it exclusively to those American species with a tightly coiled
style and pollen grains lacking course reticulation, hence, promoting significantly
the concept of Vigna. Marechal et al. (1978) followed Verdcourt
and presented a monograph on the Phaseolus-Vigna complex. Their
taxonomic system is generally accepted now. There are some 30 species described
in their monograph. They recognized two botanical varieties in the P.lunatus,
i.e., var.lunatus (Lima bean) and var.silvester (wild ancestral
form). They adopted the concept of cultigroups and subdivided var.lunatus
(Lima bean) into three cultigroups, i.e., cv-gr.SIEVA, cv-gr.POTATO
and cv-gr.BIG LIMA. Cultigroup SIEVA is characterized by the moderate size
of flat seeds and is cultivated mainly in Meso America. Cultigroup POTATO
is characterized by the small and round shaped seeds. The synonym P.bipunctatus
is applied especially for this form. It is mainly distributed around the
West Indies. Cultigroup BIG LIMA is characterized by very large flat shaped
seeds and is cultivated mainly in the Andean region of 1800-2800m in altitude.
P.inamoenus, P.limensis and P.lunatus var.macrocarpus
are the synonyms applied for this cultigroup. 2n=22.
- Pole type cultivar and wild form of P.lunatus are twining, perennial
herbs, 2-4m tall, with enlarged rootstock (Purseglove, 1974). Annual and
small bush forms, 30-90cm high, have been developed in cultivation. Flower
size is smaller than that of P.vulgaris or P.coccineus. Flower
color is usually pale green, occasionally violet. Seeds are very variable
in size, shape and color, 1-3cm long, ranging from flat-seeded types to
rounded seeds of potato types with cream, red, purple, brown or black,
and various types of mottled color. Hilum is white with translucent lines
radiating from it to outer edge of testa. Pod is oblong, generally recurved,
5-12 x 1.5-2.5cm, 2-4 seeded.
- Lima bean is grown for dried beans (Purseglove,1974). Care is required
in preparation as some cultivars contain dangerous amounts of hydrocyanic
acid. This is dissipated by boiling and changing the cooking water. The
green shelled beans are cooked as a vegetable and the young pods and leaves
are sometimes used for this purpose.
- Hoshikawa,K. 1981. Lai mame (Lima bean). in "Shokuyou Sakumotu"
(Food Crops). Yoken-do, Tokyo. (in Japanese) pp.491-494.
- Marechal,R., J.M.Mascherpa and F.Stainer. 1978. Etude taxonomique d'un
groupe complexe d'speces des genres Phaseolus et Vigna (Papilionaceae)
sur la base de donnees morphologiques et polliniques, traitees par l'analyse
informatique. Boissiera 28 : 1-273.
- Purseglove, J.W. 1974. Phaseolus lunatus In "Tropical Crops
: Dicotyledons." London : Longman. pp.296-301.
- Salgado,A.G., P.Gepts and D.G.Debouck, 1995. Evidence for two gene
pools of the Lima bean, Phaseolus lunatus L., in the Americas. Genetic
Resources and Crop Evolution 42:15-28.
- Smartt,J. 1990. Grain Legumes. Cambridge University Press. pp.85-139.
- Verdcourt,B. 1970. Studies in the Leguminosae - Papilionoideae for
the "Flora of Tropical East Africa" : IV. Kew Bulletin 24.