Amberique Bean, Trailing Wild Bean, Strophostyles helvola, Native plants of Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

	Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
	Common Name	Scientific Name	Plant Family	Garden Location	Prime Season
	Amberique Bean (Trailing Wild Bean)	Strophostyles helvola (L.) Elliott	Pea	Upland	Late summer
Other names and notes	(Annual woolly bean, Trailing fuzzy bean). A twining annual vine that by mid July produces pink to purple 5 part flowers on a long stalked head. The flowers may be single or in a dense cluster, both as illustrated below. The flowers themselves are stalkless. The oval leaves are stalked, mostly smooth and three-parted - up to three inches long. The fruit matures to a rounded pod up to 3 1/2" long that contains several wooly seeds. It prefers dry sandy soil.


Above: The bean plant with flower and fruit pod showing. Photo ©Stephen Solheim, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point.	Above: An example of a dense flower cluster. Photo ©Elaine Haug @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database

Below: The leaf structure and a characteristic single flower. Photo courtesy of Patricia Dalin.

Notes: This plant was listed on Martha Crone's 1951 census of plants in the Garden. It is native to Minnesota, but in the wild, it has only been found in 11 scattered counties, most in the southern part of the state; these are Hennepin, Scott, Ramsey, Washington, Goodhue, Wabasha, Houston, Lac Qui Parle, Nicollet, Brown and Blue Earth. The plants native range in the U. S. is from the Central states eastward. The beans may have gathered for food but there is little in the literature about them.

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References: Plant characteristics are generally from sources 15, 16, 30, 31, 33, W2 & W3. Distribution principally from W2 and also 31, 34 and W1. Planting history generally from 1, 4 & 4a. Other sources by specific reference. See Reference List for details.

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