Mary Ison's Little Brown Bunch

Bush, dry bean. Seeds are tan with brown stripes, small to medium sized, and cuboid (squared ends). Excellent flavor, buttery texture as a dry bean. Seeds are crowded in the pods with 6-7 seeds per pod. Pods are short, up to 4" long, and very light green to white in color. Pods can be eaten as a green bean when young. Pods develop a pink blush at maturity. Plants grow up to 1.5' tall and some have short runners that intertwine with each other. White flowers. Highly productive when grown in 2016 at Heritage Farm. Early maturing. Donated to SSE in 1981 by bean collector John Withee of Lynnfield, Massachusetts and the Wanigan Associates. John received this variety from Silas Gilliam of Virginia in the late 1970s. Silas got the variety from his mother-in-law, Mary Ison, who had grown the beans for at least 40 years in Kentucky. SSE Accession # 101496