Runner Bean

Phaseolus coccineus, known as the runner bean, scarlet runner bean or multiflora bean, and sometimes as butter bean though that name overlaps with the lima bean, is a plant in the legume family Fabaceae that originated in the mountainous highlands of Mexico and Guatemala, with cultivation likely beginning around 2000 BC. It has long served as both a food crop and an ornamental plant, grown as a food source in North America and Europe from the 1600s and also prized for its attractive flowers; over time North America came to favor it mainly as an ornamental for garden screening and attracting pollinators, while in the United Kingdom and other European countries it remains a popular kitchen-garden and allotment vegetable grown for its beans. The plant yields edible pods eaten whole when young, seeds used fresh or dried, and starchy tubers eaten in Mesoamerican cuisines.