Annual herb erect and bushy, 20–60 cm tall, or twining with stems 2–3 m long; with a taproot and nitrogenous nodules; leaves alternate, green or purple, trifoliolate, stipulate, petiolate, a marked pulvinus at base; leaflets ovate, entire; acuminate, 6–15 cm long, 3–11 cm wide; flowers in lax, axillary few-flowered (12) racemes, zygomorphic, variegated, white, pink, or purplish, ca 1 cm long; pods slender, green, yellow, black, or purple, cylindrical or flat, 8–20 cm long, 1–1.5 cm wide; seeds 4–6-(12), usually glabrous, sometimes puberulent, beak prominent; seeds white, red, tan, purple, grey or black, often variegated, reniform, oblong or globose, up to 1.5 cm long, endosperm absent.

Diuretic, hypoglycaemic and hypotensive (seed); antibacterial, anticancer, antidepressant, antipyretic, cardioprotective, carminative, depurative, diaphoretic, emmenagogue, estrogenic, hepatoprotective, hypocholesterolemic, hypotensive, resolvent, mutagenic.

Phaseolus vulgaris L.
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Alanine, alpha-linolenic acid, arginine, aspartic acid, glycine, histidine, leucine, linoleic acid, methionine, oleic acid, palmitic acid, phenyl-alanine, stearic acid, tryptophan, tyrosine, valine (fruit, seed, sprout seedling); alpha-tocopherol (fruit, leaf); apigenin, ferulic acid, luteolin, p-coumaric acid (plant); asparagine, choline, genistein, inositol, oxalic acid, succinic acid, trigonelline (fruit); ascorbic acid, beta-carotene, niacin, thiamin (fruit, leaf, seed, sprout seedling); biotin, glutathione (root); estrone (flower); folacin (seed, sprout seedling); pantothenic acid (fruit, seed); phytic acid (seed).

For acne, bladder problems, burns, diabetes, diarrhea, dropsy, dysentery, eczema, hiccups, itch, kidney stones, rheumatism, sciatica, tenesmus, urinary tract infections; in the treatment of cancer of the blood (seed)