Beans
Play References:
[Puck] When I a fat and Bean-fed horse beguile. Midsummer Night's Dream, act ii, sc. 1
[Carrier]
Peas and Beans are as dank here as a dog; and that is the next
way to give poor jades the bots
Henry IV part 1, act ii, sc. 1
Garden group discussion on Shakespeare’s use of plant:
Botanical Name(s) of varieties common in Shakespeare’s England:
Phaseolus vulgaris
Description:
Phaseolus vulgaris, the common bean, is a herbaceous annual plant. Its botanical classification, along with other Phaseolus species, is as a member of the legume family, Fabaceae. It forms a green-leaved vine which produces beans inside of pods.
The common bean has a long history of cultivation. All wild members of the species have a climbing habit, but many cultivars are classified either as bush beans or climbing beans, depending on their style of growth.
Ancient Greeks used the word φάσηλος (phasēlos) to refer to the beans of Asian origins that were cultivated in Europe at the time.[10] The Romans used both the Latinized phaseolus and their own faba to refer to different pre-Columbian species of beans,[11] presumably using the word faseolus for smaller seeds like those belonging to the genus Vigna such as black-eyed peas and the word faba for larger seeds, such as the fava beans. This latter word, faba, was related to the Proto-Germanic bauno, from which the Old English word bean is derived and has the meaning of "bean, pea, legume". When Phaseolus vulgaris arrived in Europe in the 16th century, this species was yet another seed in a pod, thus there were already words in the European languages describing it.
In 1528, Pope Clemente VII received some white beans, which thrived. Five years later, he gave a bag of beans as a present to his niece, Catherine, on her wedding to Prince Henri of France, along with the county of the Lauragais, whose county town is Castelnaudary, now synonymous with the white bean dish of cassoulet.
(credit: Wikipedia)
Garden Use:
Poisonous | Medicinal | Ornamental
Growing Notes:
Exerpt from Ellacombe:
BEANS
The Bean (Faba vulgaris), though an Eastern plant, was very early introduced into England as an article of food both for men and horses. As an article of human food opinions were divided, as now. By some it was highly esteemed—
"Corpus alit Faba; stringit cum cortice ventrem,
Desiccat fleuma, stomacum lumenque relidit"
is the description of the Bean in the "Modus Cenandi," l. 182 ("Babee's Book," ii, 48). While H. Vaughan describes it as--
"The Bean
By curious pallats never sought;"
and it was very generally used as a proverb of contempt--
"None other lif, sayd he, is worth a Bene."[34:1]
"But natheles I reche not a Bene."[34:2]
It is not apparently a romantic plant, and yet there is no plant round which so much curious folk lore has gathered. This may be seen at full length in Phillips' "History of Cultivated Vegetables." It will be enough here to say that the Bean was considered as a sacred plant both by the Greeks and Romans, while by the Egyptian priests it was considered too unclean to be even looked upon; that it was used both for its convenient shape and for its sacred associations in all elections by ballot; that this custom lasted in England and in most Europeans countries to a very recent date in the election of the kings and queens at Twelfth Night and other feasts; and that it was of great repute in all popular divinations and love charms. I find in Miller another use of Beans, which we are thankful to note among the obsolete uses: "They are bought up in great quantities at Bristol for Guinea ships, as food for the negroes on their passage from Africa to the West Indies."
As an ornamental garden plant the Bean has never received the attention it seems to deserve. A plant of Broad Beans grown singly is quite a stately plant, and the rich scent is an additional attraction to many, though to many others it is too strong, and it has a bad character--"Sleep in a Bean-field all night if you want to have awful dreams or go crazy," is a Leicestershire proverb:[34:3] and the Scarlet Runner (which is also a Bean) is one of the most beautiful climbers we have. In England we seldom grow it for ornament, but in France I have seen it used with excellent effect to cover a trellis-screen, mixed with the large blue Convolvulus major.
FOOTNOTES:
[34:1] Chaucer, "The Marchandes Tale," 19.
[34:2] Ibid., "The Man of Lawes Tale," prologue.
[34:3] Copied from the mediæval proverb: "Cum faba florescit, stultorum copia crescit."