Phaseolus acutifolius (Tepary Bean)

Phaseolus acutifolius

Common Name: Tepary Bean
Oˊodham Name: wepagĭ bawĭ (brown tepary) Audio, to:ta bawĭ (white tepary) Audio
Group: Crop Plants － Crop Plants

Description

Tepary beans are a very important food source for the Tohono Oˊodham. Tepary beans were originally domesticated from wild varieties that grow in canyons of the Sonoran desert. Since they are a native plant, they are well-adapted to the hot, dry climate of the Sonoran desert. Tepary beans have a high nutritional value. They have 23-30% higher protein content as compared to common beans such as pinto, kidney, and navy [ 2 ]. They also have higher levels of oil, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, phosphorous, and potassium. For example, a 100 grams of dry, white tepary beans contain 24 grams protein, 144 milligrams calcium, 405 milligrams phosphorous, and 1,653 milligrams potassium [ 1 ].

Classification

Kingdom Plantae － Plants

Subkingdom Tracheobionta － Vascular plants

Superdivision Spermatophyta － Seed plants

Division Magnoliophyta － Flowering plants

Class Magnoliopsida － Dicotyledons

Subclass Rosidae

Order Fabales

Family Fabaceae － Pea family

Genus Phaseolus L. － bean

Species Phaseolus acutifolius A. Gray － tepary bean

More Information

USDA Plant Profile and Map

Calloway, D., R. Giague, and F. Costa 1974. The superior mineral content of some American Indian foods in comparison to federally donated counterpart commodities. Ecology of Food and Nutrition. 3:203-211.
Scheerens, J., A. Tinsley, F. Abbas, C. Weber and J. Berry. 1983. The nutritional significance of tepary bean consumption. Desert Plants 5(I):11-14, 50-56.