Pea Bean
The pea bean is a variety of edible common bean that has been recorded in Britain since the 16th century. The seeds are unusual in being strongly bicoloured red, brown and white. The plants are a typical climbing bean. The beans are either eaten in the pod like French beans or they may be harvested when mature and eaten as other dried beans.
The taxonomy of the pea bean is uncertain with few reliable sources. Many seed catalogues list it as Phaseolus aegypticus a name unrecorded in the botanical literature. There have been other assertions that it is a form of lablab but horticultural consensus places it simply as variety of Phaseolus vulgaris, closely related to French beans and haricot beans.
In the USA the name "pea bean" is also used to describe small white common beans.
