Phaseolus

Beans (E). Several types of beans are cultivated for food and fodder in Panama. Beans are known to the Cuna as inua, but Choco call them frijol. The most important for food are the lima bean or haba , Phaseolus lunatus, the mung bean, Phaseolus aureus, the black bean or frijol, Phaseolus vulgaris , and the hyacinth bean or chicharro (Dolichos lablab). Among the Mayas, three kinds of beans are eaten, native black beans being most commonly boiled in salt water and eaten with tortillas. Lima beans are eaten similarly but less frequently. A smaller white bean is cooked with squash seeds which have been toasted and mixed with chopped oniion leaves. Indians rarely use the unripe fruits of beans or corn for vegetables, as does white man. Black beans, Phaseolus vulgaris, are second only to corn in Central American diet, but about the Canal Zone, they are little used. Medicinally, beans are regarded as emmenagogue, used for dysentery, tenesmus, sore eyes, hiccups, and as a poultice on burns.