Phaseolus vulgaris

Phaseolus vulgaris, the common bean, is a herbaceous annual plant grown worldwide for its edible dry seeds or green, unripe pods. Its leaf is also occasionally used as a vegetable and the straw as fodder. Its botanical classification, along with other Phaseolus species, is as a member of the legume family Fabaceae. Like most members of this family, common beans acquire the nitrogen they require through an association with rhizobia, which are nitrogen-fixing bacteria.

The common bean has a long history of cultivation. All wild members of the species have a climbing habit, but many cultivars are classified either as bush beans or climbing beans, depending on their style of growth. The other major types of commercially grown beans are the runner bean (Phaseolus coccineus) and the broad bean (Vicia faba). Beans are grown on every continent except Antarctica. Worldwide, 27 million tonnes of dried and 24 million tonnes of green beans were grown in 2016. In 2016, Myanmar was the largest producer of dried beans, while China produced 79% of the world's total of green beans.

Raw dry beans contain the toxic compound phytohaemagglutinin, which can be inactivated by cooking beans for ten minutes at boiling point (100 °C, 212 °F). The US FDA also recommends an initial soak of at least 5 hours in water which should then be discarded.