Lima bean

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iLima bean

Lima beans

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Subfamily:	Faboideae
Tribe:	Phaseoleae
Genus:	Phaseolus
Species:	P. lunatus

Binomial name

Phaseolus lunatus

The Lima bean or butter bean, (Phaseolus lunatus, Fabaceae) is grown as a vegetable for its mature and immature beans. Also known as Haba bean, Burma bean, Guffin bean, Hibbert bean, Java bean, Sieva bean, Rangood bean, Madagascar bean, Paiga, Paigya, Prolific bean, Civet bean and Sugar bean.

The lima bean is of Andean and Mesoamerican origin. Two separate domestication events are believed to have occurred. The first, taking place in the Andes around 2000 BC^{[citation needed]}, produced a large-seeded variety (Lima type), while the second, taking place most likely in Mesoamerica around 800 AD, produced a small-seeded variety (Sieva type). By 1301 AD, cultivation spread to North America, and in the sixteenth century the plant arrived and began to be cultivated in the Eastern Hemisphere.

The small-seeded wild form (Sieva type) is found distributed from Mexico to Argentina, generally below 1600 meters above sea level, while the large-seeded wild form (Lima type) is found distributed in Ecuador and the north of Peru, between 320 and 2030 meters above sea level.

Both bush and pole (vine) varieties exist, the latter from one to four meters in height. The bush varieties mature earlier than the pole varieties. The pods are up to 15 cm long. The mature seeds are 1 to 3 cm long and oval to kidney shaped. In most varieties the seeds are quite flat, but in the "potato" varieties the shape approaches spherical. White seeds are common, but black, red, orange and variously mottled seeds are also known. The immature seeds are uniformly green.

In the Southern United States the Sieva type are traditionally called butter beans, it is also otherwise known as the Dixie or Henderson type. Lima beans and butter beans are seen as two distinct types of beans with butter beans being the more popular.

[edit] Uses

The lima bean is eaten both immature as a fresh vegetable and mature as a dry pulse.

Immature lima beans are one of the principal ingredients of succotash.

Dry lima beans require lengthy soaking of about twelve hours and thorough cooking. Both soaking water and cooking water should be discarded to eliminate flatulence-inducing oligosaccharides.

Food and forage uses of the plant itself are limited by the content of the glucoside linamarin, which gives off hydrogen cyanide. This glucoside develops in the last stages of maturation and is concentrated in the youngest shoots and in the seeds. Although the seeds of different varieties differ in their linamarin content, lima beans should always be thoroughly cooked for safety. It is often advised that limas be cooked uncovered, to avoid concentrating the toxin content to unacceptable levels.

The lima bean is a perennial plant usually cultivated as an annual plant. It prefers warm temperatures, but is tolerant of drought. To plant lima beans correctly, the soil temperature needs to be at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit (16 °C). If the soil is 5 degrees Fahrenheit (3 °C)colder than that, mortality in the beans may occur. Temperatures over 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29 °C) inhibit germination, with 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 °C) preventing germination.

Harvest is from 65 to 115 days after planting, according to the variety. Harvesting must be done in a staggered way because production is prolonged and there may be fully mature dry pods present at the same time as new flowers.

Lima beans typically yield 2900 to 5000 kilograms of seed and 3000 to 8000 kilograms of biomass per hectare.