Species
+

Phaseolus coccineus L.

Runner Bean, Scarlet Runner Bean, Scarlet runner, bulgeungangnamkong

Climate known 63 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Phaseolus coccineus, known as runner bean, scarlet runner bean, or multiflora bean, is a plant in the legume family, Fabaceae. Another common name is butter bean, which can also refer to the lima bean, a different species.

Text from Wikipedia, “Phaseolus coccineus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Phaseolus

Phaseolus is a genus of herbaceous to woody annual and perennial vines in the family Fabaceae containing about 70 plant species, all native to the Americas, primarily Mesoamerica.

Text from Wikipedia, “Phaseolus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +6
Wild records
990 in range· 787 open

At a glance

Warmest month
24°C
Apr, mean day; nights 11 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1135mm/yr
7 wet months · peak Aug 219 mm (CHELSA)
Light
30–45DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to September in the northern hemisphere (June to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1135 mm a year, wettest August at 219 mm, driest December at 12 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 45 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 3.0 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Lipusa formosa (Kunth) Alef.; Lipusa multiflora Alef.; Lipusa multiflora var. alba Alef.; Lipusa multiflora var. bicolor (Vell.) Alef.; Lipusa multiflora var. coccinea (L.) Alef. and 45 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to September in the northern hemisphere (June to September at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (853 mm of 1135 mm) falls in June to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 17.2 °C against a yearly mean of 16.0 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1135 mm a year, wettest August at 219 mm, driest December at 12 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1135 mm a year at the habitat, 853 mm of it June to September. Wettest month August at 219 mm, driest December at 12 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 619 mm to 2279 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 45 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 45 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 25, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 3.0 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 3.0 °C, the absolute minimum -1.3 °C, 7 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 6.9 °C in January (across the envelope cells 3.0 °C to 12.2 °C), warmest day 24.3 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 3.0 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 51 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 19 °C in Jan to 24 °C in Apr; mean night from 7 °C in Jan to 13 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1135 mm of rain a year, most in Aug. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 743 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -1.3 °C and the 99th-percentile day 32.1 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost32.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)-1.3° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 30–45RH 51–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 743 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C19 / 16–2421 / 17–2623 / 19–2824 / 21–2924 / 20–2922 / 19–2821 / 18–2621 / 18–2621 / 18–2520 / 17–2520 / 17–2519 / 16–24
Night °C7 / 3–128 / 4–139 / 5–1411 / 7–1512 / 8–1713 / 10–1712 / 9–1712 / 9–1712 / 9–1711 / 8–169 / 5–148 / 4–13
Rain mm18 / 7–5415 / 9–4615 / 6–5233 / 8–8674 / 27–190203 / 102–377218 / 112–362219 / 105–354213 / 105–40693 / 46–26722 / 11–9912 / 6–62
DLI32 / 26–3437 / 31–3943 / 37–4545 / 40–4843 / 37–4837 / 32–4137 / 33–4136 / 33–4032 / 29–3632 / 28–3532 / 27–3430 / 25–33
RH %54 / 49–6553 / 47–6251 / 44–6052 / 44–6157 / 49–6565 / 57–6965 / 60–7066 / 60–7067 / 61–7164 / 57–7058 / 51–6755 / 50–66

Each figure is the median across the 743 grid cells holding the 983 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1419:1636 (19.025, -98.175). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -1.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 3.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.1 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 743 distinct grid cells holding the 983 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1419:1636 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 19.00_-98.125, lapse-corrected +15 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2162 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua· introduced: Great Britain, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Bulgaria, Belarus, Baltic States, Central European Russia, East European Russia, North European Russia, South European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Ukraine, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Irkutsk, Amur, Khabarovsk, Primorye, Kirgizistan, Uzbekistan, Transcaucasus, China South-Central, Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, China North-Central, China Southeast, Korea, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Jawa, New Guinea, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Wake I., Alabama, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador
Kew's description“climbing annual or perennial” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker19.333, -98.767 · in the densest population, 359 records (36% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 990 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 787 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 8 km away. 397 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 7 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 990 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Phaseolus coccineusPhaseolus coccineusPhaseolus coccineusPhaseolus coccineusPhaseolus coccineusPhaseolus coccineusPhaseolus coccineusPhaseolus coccineus

Photographs: (c) Itzel Flores, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Phaseolus coccineus, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Plant Circadian Rhythms
C. Robertson McClung (2006) · The Plant Cell
Molecular cloning and functional expression of gibberellin 2- oxidases, multifunctional enzymes involved in gibberellin deactivation
Sini Thomas, Andrew L. Phillips, Peter Hedden (1999) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Ammonia Assimilation by Rhizobium Cultures and Bacteroids
C. M. Brown, M. J. Dilworth (1975) · Journal of General Microbiology
Activation Tagging of a Dominant Gibberellin Catabolism Gene (GA 2-oxidase) from Poplar That Regulates Tree Stature
Victor Busov, Richard Meilan, David Pearce, Caiping Ma (2003) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
The level of jasmonic acid in Arabidopsis thaliana and Phaseolus coccineus plants under heavy metal stress
Waldemar Maksymiec, Dorota Wianowska, Andrzej L. Dawidowicz, Stanisław Radkiewicz (2005) · Journal of Plant Physiology
Genetic improvement of vegetable crops
G. Kalloo, B. O. Bergh (1993)
Using Genomics to Study Legume Seed Development
Brandon H. Le, Javier A. Wagmaister, Tomokazu Kawashima, Anhthu Q. Bui (2007) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Three Sequenced Legume Genomes and Many Crop Species: Rich Opportunities for Translational Genomics
Steven B. Cannon, Gregory D. May, Scott A. Jackson (2009) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
A survey of the nutritional and haemagglutination properties of legume seeds generally available in the UK
George Grant, Linda J. More, Norma H. McKenzie, James Stewart (1983) · British Journal Of Nutrition
Structural Analysis and Measurement of Anthocyanins from Colored Seed Coats of Vigna, Phaseolus , and Glycine Legumes
Kumi Yoshida, Yoshie Sato, Reiko Okuno, Kiyoshi Kameda (1996) · Bioscience Biotechnology and Biochemistry

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Phaseolus 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 103 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.