help needed with "Striped Bunch" pole bean

[nellie-m]

Did I ever mention I love the VSP? I got so many fabulous varieties, some excitingly exotic, some wonderfully delicious, some simply beautiful - and this one to give me a funny surprise!

I'm sorry I cannot say who donated them to the VSP, it doesn't say on the label so I thought I'd ask here. It seems to have been obtained from an HSL seed swap, so perhaps no one else has grown them but it can't hurt to ask anyway.

You all probably know how bean seeds get darker with age. The seeds in the packet all looked very similar, and an unsuspecting me grew a number of plants on poles. Imagine my surprise when they turned out to be actually two distinctly different varieties!

This is far beyond what you'd expect in terms of variation within one sort (especially as there are no "in betweens" - it's only one or the other). One has long, firm, straight pods and dark seeds right after shelling them, the other has shorter, soft and pliable pods (until fully dry) and much lighter seeds.

Does anyone recognise the "true" Striped Bunch from the photos, or can even come up with an idea what the other one might be? I can't possibly pass them both on as Striped Bunches!

The "heart" in the middle of the first picture are the original, older seeds. To the left and the right are the freshly harvested ones. By now they already look a lot more similar as the lighter ones darken, though not quite identical yet.

[veggiechicken]

Very interesting
I swapped some surplus VSP seeds for them at the local Seedy Saturday, Nellie. They are HSL seeds.
Will have a look for the rest of the beans and see what they look like.

[veggiechicken]

Extract from Adopt a Veg
Striped Bunch
A rarity! It is claimed that these beans can be found only in ‘one hollow’ in Right Beaver Creek, Knott County, Kentucky. Donated By John Yeoman, of The Village Guild, this variety is known in the USA as a pole bean, growing to about 1.5-2m in height. The pale yellow-orange flowers are followed by flat, green pods.

Please note: this variety needs a little bit more of a helping hand, so we are not able to send out seeds with gifts, however by adopting it you will be directly contributing to its conservation, so that one day we will be able to make it available to everyone.

[Bigmallly]

Don't know if this helps Nellie:

https://exchange.seedsavers.org/cata...spx?itm=131550

[Guest]

They are listed in the 2011 cat. with a piccy. The ones on the left of your piccy look the closer match to me. It might be worth sending an e-mail to HSL

[nellie-m]

Thanks everyone, yes, I agree about the ones on the left.
I must admit I didn't take proper notes this year so I cannot say whether flower colours were different, or whether both sorts had flat pods. I plan to grow both again next year and pay more attention to all the possible differences.

The remaining seeds really look pretty similar so I can totally see how they could have got mixed up.

[Scarlet]

I haven't got a clue but they're all beautiful!

[Bren In Pots]

The look the same as my Serbian pole beans, most of mine are the lighter ones with just a handful showing the darker brown colour.

beans on left are this years seeds, right ones are last years but they have gone darker with age.

[nellie-m]

Yes, Bren, I see that in most beans that there is the odd one that is darker, or rather has the dark markings to such an extent that they cover almost the whole surface. Sometimes such a dark seed is in the same pod with the "normal" ones. But with the darker ones from the "Striped Bunch" poles they were all without exception in the straight long pods, and all the lighter ones in the short soft pods. So that's a bit of a different phenomenon.

[Bren In Pots]

Mine have all been in short fat pods so it looks like your dark beans are a different variety all together.

[veggiechicken]

Don't know whether these help, Nellie. The packet they came in, although I wrote the description on the front. It just said "CFB/ Striped Bunch/3648K"

There are 5 darker beans and a few larger, pale beans. Most of them are similar in size, colour and stripiness.

[poly]

There also seem to be 3 or 4 smaller paler seeds mixed in too. Looks to have been a cross at some time and still some line segregation going on.

Here's a description from Sand Hill under Pole Snap Beans

"Striped Bunch: 75 days. A true half runner with runners up to 5 feet long. Productive, round 5 to 6 inch pods. Good for green beans and outstanding pickled. (Unavailable for 2014)"

Nellie-m, sounds more like the left hand bean with softer shorter pods?

[Guest]

I think there are actually three types on that plate aswell Can we name the mystery bean the vsp bean or gyo bean?

[veggiechicken]

I think there are actually three types on that plate aswell Can we name the mystery bean the vsp bean or gyo bean?

How about with a nod to nellie, the "Bonkers Bunch" bean

[nellie-m]

LOL!

Thank you all for pointing me towards so many sources - now I have a good starting point for further research. I harvested the two types separately of course, so I think I'll sow both again next year and see whether there is indeed some line segregation going on or whether they really are two distinctly different varieties with similar seeds that each breed pure, and have been mixed by accident. I'll pay more attention to flower colour, height, shape and length of pods etc. so I can then ask the people who offer them specifically about these things. So far, I agree with what you think - that the softer, round, short pods are probably the "real" striped bunch.

Phaseolus vulgaris doesn't cross all that easily. It is possible, but rare. I was given a mix of six very different varieties of dwarf french beans, with six different seed colours: black, white, yellow, red, brown and violet. The lady who gave me them has been growing them for decades in her garden, and she always sows them in the one and the same long row, all mixed up. As far as I can tell from growing them separately this year, no crossing has occurred at all. Each colour was uniform in height, pod shape etc, and all the seeds I harvested were the same original colour again. Fascinating.