French Beans

Phaseolus vulgaris

HRB-0028Entry “FRENCH BEANS” in the 1850 textIn Culpeper’s 1652 first edition

Open in the Concordance

Old claims, quoted verbatim: not medical advice. A warning sits above the claims and never hides them; no warning does not mean safe, only that no source here has flagged the plant.

Substance of concernRaw beans carry lectins; cooked beans are food.EFSA: Lectins, Saponins, linamarinEFSA’s list of substances, not a danger rating. Checked 26 October 2026.

Historical correspondence. Ruled by Venus, by Culpeper. A traditional astrological assignment, kept apart from the modern evidence; it is not a finding.

Culpeper’s claims about it: 3, under 3 headings

  1. GravelCLM-000800
    a dram at a time taken in white wine to prevent the stone, or to cleanse the kidneys of gravel or stoppage.
    QUO-000618Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  2. Shortness of BreathCLM-001512
    they move the belly, provoke urine, enlarge the breast that is straightened with shortness of breath, engender sperm, and incite to venery.
    QUO-001024Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  3. StoneCLM-001673
    a dram at a time taken in white wine to prevent the stone, or to cleanse the kidneys of gravel or stoppage.
    QUO-000618Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance

Source

Nicholas Culpeper, The Complete Herbal, a new edition (London: Thomas Kelly, 1850). Project Gutenberg eBook #49513. SRC-CUL-1850

Quotations are verbatim from the 1850 text, line breaks joined. Modern research and the European regulator’s verdict on each claim are on the Concordance page, kept apart from this historical record.