What is "pea bean"

Bean \Bean\ (b[=e]n), n. [OE. bene, AS. be['a]n; akin to D. boon, G. bohne, OHG. p[=o]na, Icel. baun, Dan. b["o]nne, Sw. b["o]na, and perh. to Russ. bob, L. faba.]

1. (Bot.) A name given to the seed of certain leguminous herbs, chiefly of the genera Faba, Phaseolus, and Dolichos; also, to the herbs.

   Note: The origin and classification of many kinds are still doubtful. Among true beans are: the black-eyed bean and China bean, included in Dolichos Sinensis; black Egyptian bean or hyacinth bean, Dolichos Lablab; the common haricot beans, kidney beans, string beans, and pole beans, all included in Phaseolus vulgaris; the lower bush bean, Phaseolus vulgaris, variety nanus; Lima bean, Phaseolus lunatus; Spanish bean and scarlet runner, Phaseolus multiflorus; Windsor bean, the common bean of England, Faba vulgaris. [1913 Webster] As an article of food beans are classed with vegetables.

2. The popular name of other vegetable seeds or fruits, more or less resembling true beans. Bean aphis (Zo["o]l.), a plant louse ( Aphis fab[ae]) which infests the bean plant. Bean fly (Zo["o]l.), a fly found on bean flowers. Bean goose (Zo["o]l.), a species of goose ( Anser segetum). Bean weevil (Zo["o]l.), a small weevil that in the larval state destroys beans. The American species is Bruchus fab[ae]. Florida bean (Bot.), the seed of Mucuna urens, a West Indian plant. The seeds are washed up on the Florida shore, and are often polished and made into ornaments. Ignatius bean, or St. Ignatius's bean (Bot.), a species of Strychnos. Navy bean, the common dried white bean of commerce; probably so called because an important article of food in the navy. Pea bean, a very small and highly esteemed variety of the edible white bean; -- so called from its size. Sacred bean. See under Sacred. Screw bean. See under Screw. Sea bean.

   1. Same as Florida bean.

   2. A red bean of unknown species used for ornament.

      Tonquin bean, or Tonka bean, the fragrant seed of Dipteryx odorata, a leguminous tree.

      Vanilla bean. See under Vanilla.

n. A very small and highly esteemed variety of the edible white bean.

n. white-seeded bean; usually dried [syn: navy bean, white bean]

Pea beans are several types of common food plants:

• a variety of edible common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) 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. 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 (Phaseolus vulgaris).
• The same name is used for Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis, also called yard-long bean and cowpea.