Lima Bean (Phaseolus lunatus) seeds

The Lima Bean originates from Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru. It likes warmth and, in Central Europe, grows best as a pot plant at a sunny location. Lima beans have a mild taste and are suitable for stews.

In tropical and subtropical climate, lima beans grow perennially. However, here, they are cultivated annually only as they can’t stand frost. As this bean variety clearly likes more warmth than our common bean, an early preculture indoors is absolutely recommended to make ripeness even possible – or complete greenhouse cultivation.

Also as ornamental plants for the garden, balcony, and terrace, lima beans, with their numerous tender blossoms standing in racemes, are very decorative. The ripe seeds are as beautiful and colourful later. Depending on the variety, they can be white, yellow, red, violet, and black, single-coloured to radial-patterned. Except for the white-skinned beans, all the others contain the toxic hydrocyanic acid glycoside linamarin. That’s why the beans necessarily have to be boiled before consumption. The boiling water must be drained. Then, the consumption isn’t dangerous.