Heirloom Aztec Cave Bean or New Mexico Cave Bean. Also known by some as Anasazi which is the trademarked name given by a milling company for this bean that has been cultivated by the people native to the present day Four Corner area of the United States for thousands of years. This heirloom has quite a long story as to it's history, that you can read below the description. Aztec Cave Bean is a dry shell variety that can also be used as a snap bean, just pick it early, when the pods start to plump, as you would any snap bean. The strong pole type plants produce large amounts of wide flattened 7" pods. The beans of Aztec Cave Bean have a sweet, creamy flavor. For green snap beans harvest Aztec Cave Beans at approximately 50 days. They are a string bean so be sure to remove the strings. This requires a little work, but the flavor is worth it. For dry beans, pods are ready to pick when they are mature and dried down. 90 days until full maturity. These beans will easily cover a trellis. When in bloom it looks like popcorn is popping out of the leaves. The blooms start out a bright white and turn buttery yellow before they fall off. Many seed resellers sell Jacob's Cattle Bean as Anasazi Bean. This bean is NOT Jacob's Cattle or Trout Bean. Jacob's Cattle Bean is a much larger bean, being nearly twice the size and the bean has splashes and small spots. Anasazi Bean has large splashes. Jacob's Cattle Bean is a bush plant. The flavor is also different, less creamy, more hearty.
Fabaceae Phaseolus vulgaris
These are the bad cousins of the Ladybird Beetles and look somewhat similar. They feed on green, field and Lima beans and when present in sufficient numbers they can completely defoliate whole plants. They can be controlled by early planting, hand picking and by encouraging predators. If all else fails use pyrethrum or rotenone.
Image: Clemson University - USDA Cooperative Extension Slide Series, Bugwood.org