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Phaseolus maculatus
Also called Metcalfe Bean, Prairie Bean
Spotted bean is a trailing perennial vine-like herb from dry, rocky slopes of the American Southwest and northern Mexico, grown mainly as livestock forage and occasionally as an ornamental. It is hardy and drought tolerant, with a large woody taproot that helps it survive dry conditions.
Phaseolus maculatus (Metcalfe bean, prairie bean, spotted bean) is a plant native to Mexico and the southwestern United States from Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. It is found on dry, rocky hillsides in meadows and in wooded areas from 1500 to 2400 m (5000–8000 ft) in elevation.
P. maculatus is a trailing perennial herb with a large, woody taproot. Leaves are trifoliate, oval, up to 8 cm (3.2 in) long, with small uncinate (hooked) hairs. Leaf blades tend to be oriented vertically so they do are not pressed against the ground. Flowers are purple. Seeds are mottled black and brown.
This bean is often used as livestock forage, and it is cited as a gene source for disease resistance in the lima bean (P. lunatus) by Germplasm Resources Information Network. The Tarahumara peoples of the Sierra Madre Occidental in Chihuahua use the roots medicinally and also make glue from the shoots. The species is also occasionally grown as an ornamental.
Tepary bean · Slimleaf bean · Scarlet runner · Year Bean · Slimjim bean · Phaseolus glabellus · Gray's Bean · Bean · Lima bean · Few Flowered Bean · Thicket bean · Santa Rita Mountain bean
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Phaseolus maculatus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
