BreeRose, can't help you with a source but there's a bit more information in the link below. Apparently it is also know as "Early Rachel" or "The Rachel" bean.

Annette

Here is a link that might be useful: Quail Head

A grower in Iowa offered Quailhead bush dry bean in the SSE Yearbook until 2003:

IA SC D - 2003: a.k.a. Purple Cranberry, hort. type, rusty with maroon marks, from local family who grew it for 70 years.

Dick

The term "horticultural", as used in bean nomenclature, is problematic. See the link below for a long thread on the topic.

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Horticultural Beans

Someone might want to write to the person who listed the bean in the SSE yearbook in 2003. They might still be maintaining the variety. I have written to people who had listed beans in previous years and several times they were willing to send me bean samples as they were still maintaining the variety from their outdated listing. You might come up empty handed, but you might get lucky too.

Thanks for the help, everyone!

Aftermidnight, I had also come across the name "Rachel" in a couple old documents, too. Not sure if it's the same thing or just a similar cultivar.

Jimster, I had read that thread on horitcultural beans when I began my search. I had no idea the term was so contentious!

And thanks to Drloyd and BlueJay for the SSE suggestion. I think I will contact them and see if it's still around. It never hurts to ask!

My father grew quail head pole beans. It's one of my favorite beans to eat.

I used to grow a horicultural type of shellie called "Enta" but haven't seen it around the last few years. It was easy to hull out and was a good shellie for canning. Anybody know anything about what happened to it.

HU from oklahoma