Runner bean
Phaseolus coccineus · Legume family
Plant portrait
A climber with three-part leaves, often red flowers and long pods.
Harvested part
Young pods or seeds, depending on variety and culinary use.
What to watch for
Look for flower clusters and then hanging pods; some varieties have white flowers.
Growth stages of the runner bean
Plotilo illustrates the runner bean in 7 stages in 3D: seed, small sprout, young plant, growing, flowering, developing fruit and harvest. The models show typical shapes; they do not predict how long growth takes.
- Seed
Starting from a seed. It is shown on the surface to make it visible in this illustration.
- Small sprout
A short first stem and its first small leaves emerge.
- Young plant
The young plant carries more leaves and starts to take its own shape.
- Growing
Leaves and stems develop. Their shape depends on the species.
- Flowering
Flowers are shown before fruit begins to form.
- Developing fruit
Fruit begins to develop on the plant.
- Harvest
An illustration of the harvested part. Roots are made visible for clarity; this image does not confirm actual maturity.
Same botanical family
Same botanical family as the runner bean (the legume family): the green bean, the pea, the broad bean, the American groundnut, the Lima bean and the yardlong bean. Gardeners usually avoid growing the same family in the same spot several years in a row: that is the idea behind crop rotation.