I was hoping maybe someone has heard of these varieties?

The first one is labeled "Yard Long Beans, 1986, Aunt Dee's", and the latest date on the label is '98. They're a black bean, small and narrow, kidney-shaped. Could these be what I've heard called "Appalachian Long Bean" or "Appalachian Yard Long Bean"?

The second is labeled "Pole Lima, Ella Shepard, Missouri". The beans are buff-colored with undertones of pale green, most are the size of a dime, but some are nickle-sized.

The third is labeled "Purple Speckled Pole bean, Pennsylvania Native, pre-1800". The closest reference I've found is on the Seeds of Diversity website in Canada, and the bean was "Uncle Willie's Pole Bean". These beans are a pinto or rattlesnake variety, on the small side, and have pink-tan coats with speckles and stripes of purple, dark purple, or black. Three of the twenty seeds have more of a russet background with black markings, but they could just be duds. They're a very pretty bean.

If anyone knows what they are, please let me know.

Thanks,

RavensWings

In other words, one of those Aunt Dee's Yard Long Bean. Etc.

Even if we could, for sure, identify them as a particular variety, the strain might be different. So you want to keep them separate.

The Purple Speckle Beans look much like one of the four types seen in Cherokee Cornfield Beans (I noticed this while planting my Cornfields yesterday.) It's possible they're a relation. Or it may just be coincidence. The only reason I related to the Uncle Willie Beans was that their description matched closely. The Purple Speckles will get planted, I think, but probably next year.

The reason I'm researching these beans, and other seed varieties that came in the donation, is that the seeds were given to the Ft. Toulouse living-history program. The job was delegated to me to find which ones were of varieties that would be accurate for our time period, the French & Indian War. The garden belongs to the interpreters who portray the neighboring mid-1700's Native American community, of the Alabamas. So it's a garden that's mainly Native varieties with an influence of French varieties.

But if I cannot find information, the seeds won't get planted in the fort garden next year.