# Bean pod (Phaseolus vulgaris) *Green bean pod, kidney bean husk; the pod emptied of its seeds of *Phaseolus vulgaris* of Linnaeus, the French or kidney bean; in pharmacy *Phaseoli fructus sine semine** **Known today as.** The pod, without its seeds, of the common French or kidney bean, *Phaseolus vulgaris*. Culpeper describes the plant rising on one stalk that divides into arms “so weak that if they be not sustained with sticks or poles, they will be fruitless upon the ground,” with three leaves to a stalk, pea-like flowers, and “long and slender flat pods, some crooked, some straight, with a string running down the back thereof,” holding a fruit “made like a kidney.” Kind: Plant > **Caution.** The European agency does not recommend the pod for anyone under eighteen, for want of data. The seeds are another matter: a review of the bean’s lectins describes them as anti-nutritional factors that can cause intestinal disorders. ## What was it used for? A medicine for the kidneys and the water. Culpeper gives the beans to Venus and has them dried and powdered, “as great strengtheners of the kidneys as any are,” a dram at a time in white wine to prevent the stone and cleanse the kidneys of gravel; the ordinary French beans, he adds, “move the belly, provoke urine,” ease shortness of breath, and “incite to venery.” The seedless pod is what the European monograph covers. ## What does modern science say? The European Medicines Agency’s herbal committee accepts the seedless pod as a traditional herbal medicine “exclusively based upon long-standing use,” to increase the amount of urine and so flush the urinary tract, as an adjuvant in minor urinary complaints (monograph of 2013). Its assessment report names arginine, silicic acid, and chromium salts in the pod. Trials have tested other parts of the plant, not the pod: a 2011 review of bean extract as a slimming aid found six trials, all with serious methodological flaws, no significant difference in weight lost against placebo, and a small reduction in body fat, and concluded that “The poor quality of the included RCT prevents us from drawing any firm conclusions.” ## Pharmacognosy and toxicology - **arginine**: in the pod - **silicic acid**: - **chromium**: as salts **Mechanism.** Not established in the sources read for this entry. **Standing.** European Union herbal monograph (2013): traditional use, “exclusively based upon long-standing use,” to flush the urinary tract in minor urinary complaints. ## What lore surrounds it? Culpeper knew two sorts in English gardens: the ordinary French bean, most often white-flowered, and the scarlet-flowered bean that runs to the height of hop-poles, twining “contrary to the sun,” its seeds a dead purple turning black. ## What did the older authorities say? **Dioscorides.** His garden *smilax*, which the modern translation, following Fuchs, suggests is the kidney bean, climbs with tendrils over neighbouring shrubs and grows so freely that it is made into bowers; its pods hold seeds like kidneys and are eaten with the seeds, boiled like asparagus. It encourages urine, he says, and causes troublesome dreams. **Nicholas Culpeper.** Of the scarlet-flowered bean he writes that set by a quickset hedge it will climb and adorn it “so that they may be discerned a great way, not without admiration of the beholders at a distance. But they will go near to kill the quicksets by cloathing them in scarlet.” ## Sources - Culpeper, N. *The Complete Herbal*, “French Beans.” Project Gutenberg, 49513. - Dioscorides. *De materia medica*, 2-176, in the modern English version of T. A. Osbaldeston and R. P. A. Wood (Johannesburg: Ibidis, 2000), after Goodyer’s translation of 1655. Internet Archive. - European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *European Union herbal monograph on Phaseoli fructus (sine semine) (Green bean pod)*. EMA/HMPC/317319/2012, 12 November 2013. - European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *Assessment report on Phaseoli fructus sine semine*. EMA/HMPC/317317/2012, 12 November 2013. - Onakpoya I, et al. (2011). The efficacy of Phaseolus vulgaris as a weight-loss supplement: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised clinical trials. *The British journal of nutrition*. PMID 22844674. - He S, et al. (2018). Phaseolus vulgaris lectins: A systematic review of characteristics and health implications. *Critical reviews in food science and nutrition*. PMID 26479307. - European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *European Union herbal monograph on Phaseoli fructus (sine semine) (Green bean pod)*. EMA/HMPC/317319/2012, 12 November 2013. - European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *Assessment report on Phaseoli fructus sine semine*. EMA/HMPC/317317/2012, 12 November 2013. --- *Bean pod.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-16. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/bean-pod Historical description, not medical advice.