Note 93 — Chapter IX · CULTIVATED PLANTS: CEREAL AND CULINARY PLANTS.

Mr. Bentham informs me that in Poitou and the adjoining parts of France, varieties of Phaseolus vulgaris are extremely numerous, and so different that they were described by Savi as distinct species. Mr. Bentham believes that all are descended from an unknown eastern species. Although the varieties differ so greatly in stature and in their seeds, “there is a remarkable sameness in the neglected characters of foliage and flowers, and especially in the bracteoles, an insignificant character in the eyes even of botanists.”