Bean Identification Please

[gojiberry]

I have some bean seeds that I have at some stage saved myself. Problem is I can't remember what they might be. The beans are definitely a climber and probably a runner. The beans are coal black all over. Haven't sown the seed yet this year so don't know what colour the flowers are. Can anyone help or at least narrow it down a bit for me.

Ian

[GardeningMike]

Identification?

I have some bean seeds that I have at some stage saved myself. Problem is I can't remember what they might be. The beans are definitely a climber and probably a runner. The beans are coal black all over. Haven't sown the seed yet this year so don't know what colour the flowers are. Can anyone help or at least narrow it down a bit for me.

Ian

Well Goji, that's not much to go on - they could be, literally, any variety, and since they are runner beans they can outcross with other varieties to produce hybrids...

Hope that helps
Mike

[Two_Sheds]

I have some like that - Black Croatian French Beans, but as Mike said - could be anything.

Does it matter much?

[gojiberry]

No it doesn't matter they have now been sown and hopefully give me a good crop. I didn't think there were that many pure black beans about. All my others are white through to pink through to brown and with various speckles, spot and blotches. I know they arn't black Croatian as I have never bought any of them in the past.

Ian

[Paulottie]

French beans have much smaller seed than runners.... climbing french 'fasold' is one variety that has black seed.

[PAULW]

I have black runner bean seed, they turn up quite frequently on our lottie among the old boys who have saved their own seed for the last fifty years result of multi crosses from umpteen differant varieties

[taff]

cherokee trail of tears are black too, but they're french, so probably a smaller bean

[PAULW]

Not the best pics but here they are.

[Two_Sheds]

French beans have much smaller seed than runners....

Not much smaller, some of them are as big as a man's thumbnail.

[FelixLeiter]

French beans can be quite large, the Borlotti type, for instance. But runner beans produce the occasional black bean which can be selected from to produce and all-black strain.

Let's make this clear about French beans: they're a whole different species from runners, and you can tell the difference when you germinate the seeds. French beans' cotyledons (the seed leaves) emerge with the seedling, but runner beans' remain in the seed. When you sow the seeds, see what they do and that will help narrow things down a bit.

[rogesse]

Thats interesting Felixleiter - never noticed that before, but then again we only grow a couple of runners for Grandma (and a few for me). The rest of the family don't really like them so we stick to Frenchies.

[Jardiniere]

i grow a climbing french bean called Cobra and that has black seeds.............

[Pootle]

That's just what I was going to say