# Legumes \> Beans? Or, vice versa? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 17, 2010, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legumes-beans-or-vice-versa/532718 "2010-03-17T02:28:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legumes-beans-or-vice-versa/532718/21 "2010-03-17T22:34:10Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Varieties of the common bean, _Phaseolus vulgaris_, can also be referred to as “red beans”, as [this Wiki page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_bean) makes clear: > > I think Wikipedia needs a bit of tidying up here, possibly with a disambiguation page for “Red bean”. Yeah, it really is confusing. [Here’s another explanation of red beans](http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-red-beans.htm), of which all examples seem to be legumes. I’ve never heard of this miva mahogany, nor “red beans” to refer to seeds or fruits of this tree. Where is this term used? Is the “red bean” the fruit of this tree? Is it edible? ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legumes-beans-or-vice-versa/532718/22 "2010-03-18T00:02:48Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’ve never heard of this miva mahogany, nor “red beans” to refer to seeds or fruits of this tree. Where is this term used? Wherever the tree is grown, which, as a moderately popular forestry tree, is any reasonably wet area of the tropics. > [@](#): > > Is the “red bean” the fruit of this tree? The red bean is the name of the plant and the fruit, exactly the same as green bean, castor bean, jumping bean etc. > [@](#): > > Is it edible? No, it’s deadly poisonous. Just to add to the confusion, the name red bean seems to have been derived because the tree looks similar to the [black bean](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castanospermum_australe) in terms of leaves, bark, growth form etc, and the two species naturally occupy some of the same habitat. The black bean is a legume, hence the name, while the red bean seems to have been assigned its name based on its similarity to the black bean. Confused yet? ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legumes-beans-or-vice-versa/532718/23 "2010-03-18T07:45:45Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > Also, coffee beans are not beans. They’re cherries. > > > [@Mangetout](#): > > > > They’re both or neither together, depending on how strict you want to be with the terms ‘bean’ and ‘cherry’. [Cherries](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_bean) or berries with two beans in them, unless there’s only one bean, then it’s a cherry or a berry with a (pea)berry in it. If none of this makes any sense, you probably need another cup of coffee! 😃 CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legumes-beans-or-vice-versa/532718/24 "2010-03-18T08:20:29Z")
Exactly my point - if you’re going to call the fruits of the coffee plant ‘cherries’, there can be no objection to calling the seeds ‘beans’, because they’re approximately the same kind of terms. To add to the confusion (we like confusion), there are plants with ‘bean’ in the name that don’t produce anything that looks like a bean - the [Bog Bean](http://www.cvni.org/wildflowernursery/wildflowers/bogbean) (AKA Buck Bean) is so named because its foliage superficially resembles that of a typical legume - it’s not related to legumes at all (except in the sense that all plants are related by common descent) ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legumes-beans-or-vice-versa/532718/25 "2010-03-18T20:23:07Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > [Red bean - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Bean) In case anyone is following this link, yesterday it was a redirect to the Wiki page on [Dysoxylum mollissimum subsp. molle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysoxylum_mollissimum_subsp._molle). Now it’s a redirect to a disambiguation page [Red bean](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_bean). ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legumes-beans-or-vice-versa/532718/26 "2010-03-18T20:29:13Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > In case anyone is following this link, yesterday it was a redirect to the Wiki page on [Dysoxylum mollissimum subsp. molle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysoxylum_mollissimum_subsp._molle). Now it’s a redirect to a disambiguation page [Red bean](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_bean). Thank you! The earlier posts were confusing me because they led to the disambiguation page, which didn’t help at all! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legumes-beans-or-vice-versa/532718.md?page=1)