Phebe Vinson Heirloom

Bush lima, 2-2.5' tall. Full plants. Oblong, flat seeds, with variable patterns. Pattern color is either dark purple (50%) or light purple (50%) over a cream-colored background. Pattern coverage ranges from less than half to almost entire. Curved pods have a medium length beak. Pods average 2.8" long by 0.7" wide. Shattering dry pods. 2-3 seeds per pod. Standard eating qualities. Early maturing. This variety was stewarded by Phebe (Dixon) Vinson of Waverly, Nebraska for over 70 decades. The limas were grown by Phebe's mother, Mary (Larick) Dixon, of Naponee, NE and she gave seeds to Phebe in 1919 when Phebe married and left home. While she did not know where her mother originally acquired the variety, Phebe noted that "mama was careful to raise some." When she donated seeds to SSE in 1987, Phebe wrote that she herself grows them some years, but not every year as her family prefers the taste of other kinds. When cooking the fresh limas, Phebe would add baking soda to the water because "The soda cuts the strong taste from them." SSE Accession # 112735