Chambers's encyclopaedia; a dictionary of universal knowledge for the people . c\ui\Qi\ liyLinnEcus and many otherbotanists in the genus Vicia (see Vetch), from which it is distin-guished chiefly by the leatherytumid pods, spongy within, and bjthe large scar on the end of tlieseed.—The Common B. (F. vulgaris,Vicia Faha of LiniiaBus) is somewhatdoubtfully supposed to be a nativeof the borders of the Casiiian Sea;it lias been in cultivation from re-mote antiquity in Europe as well asin Asia. It is an annual plant, gen-erally from two to four feet high,witli thick angular stem, leaves with3—.5 ov
Chambers's encyclopaedia; a dictionary of universal knowledge for the people . c\ui\Qi\ liyLinnEcus and many otherbotanists in the genus Vicia (see Vetch), from which it is distin-guished chiefly by the leatherytumid pods, spongy within, and bjthe large scar on the end of tlieseed.—The Common B. (F. vulgaris,Vicia Faha of LiniiaBus) is somewhatdoubtfully supposed to be a nativeof the borders of the Casiiian Sea;it lias been in cultivation from re-mote antiquity in Europe as well asin Asia. It is an annual plant, gen-erally from two to four feet high,witli thick angular stem, leaves with3—.5 oval leaflets, and destitute oftendrils. The pods are tliick, long,and woolly within; the seeds moreor less ovate and flattened. Thefloviers, which are almost withoutstalks, are ordinarily white, with ablack spot in the middle of the wing :but there is a varietj witli flowersentirely white, and another in whichthey are scarlet. The flowers aredeliciously fi-agraiit. Burns alludesto this in the lines— The zephyr wantoned round the bean,And bore its fragrant gweets Bean leaves and flower. A field of beans perfumes the sum-mer air for a considerable distance. The varieties and sub-varieties in cultivation are very numerous,differing in tlie size and form of the seed, the color of the flower,the period which tliey require for growth, the height, the stem insome unbranched, in otliers divided at the base into a number ofstalks—the ]iods in some mostly solitary, in others, clustei-ed, & B. is cultivated both in fields and gardens, and the seeds(beans) are used for feeding cattle, also for making a sort of mealfor human food, and in a green state are put into broths or boiledfor the table. Tliey are very nutritious, containing when ripeabout 36 per cent, of starch, and 23 per cent, of legumine, a nitro-genous substance analogous to the caseine of milk. Whether forman or for cattle, lio\vever, they particularl} require to be mixedwith other food. The straw is used fo
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidchamberssenc, bookyear1888
