On Jul 26, 9:33*am, "Pavel314" wrote:
"Simon" wrote in message

...

Just curious. *What is the difference between "Beans" and "peas"? *is
there a biological distinction? or just a linguistic/interchangeable
difference?

thanks,
Simon

Peas have tendrils to hold onto their support while beans wrap their stalks
around it.

Paul

It is a big more complicated. Bean is used for a lot of different
things and usually tagged by shape. Common beans which include snap
beans, dry shelling beans, wax beans ( pole or bush) are in one
group ) Phaseolus vulgaris. These are the ones we normally eat as
beans. A second group is the runner bean, which comes in either pole
or bush form. This one is more ornamental having bright showy blossoms
of red, white, pink, or multi-colored.(Phaseolus coccineus) You also
have the exotic beans like the Tepary ( Phaseolus acutifolius), the
Hyacinthe bean (Dolichos lab lab), the Sword bean ( Canavalia
gladiata) these are all used as vegetables somewhere in the world. We
won't get into things like coffee beans.

Peas are also complicated as some of them are called beans under some
circumstances. The most common is the English pea (Pisum sativum)
Asian peas (Snowpeas) and snap peas are a subgroup. Then you have
southern peas/cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata) slick vines quite different
from common beans, some subspecies are sold as beans. Adzuki and long
beans for example. There are lots of non edible "peas" like sweet
peas but lets not get into those.