Broad Bean
Broad Bean
Food Plant
A fast-growing bean plant with big seeds, famous for watching germination and for feeding the soil with nitrogen.
💡 Fun Facts
- Its big seeds make it perfect for watching a plant grow — you can see the root and the shoot appear.
- Hidden bumps on its roots hold tiny bacteria that grab nitrogen from the air to feed the soil.
- Broad beans have been grown as food for thousands of years.
📅 Through the Year
- Flowering:April to June
- Fruiting:June to July
Name Story
Vicia faba
means “the bean-vetch”
What does its name mean?
- Vicia — vetchLatin — the old name for the vetch group of plants
- faba — beanLatin — the broad or fava bean
This name is really two plant-names side by side: one word means ‘vetch’, the other means ‘bean’. The broad bean truly is a kind of vetch — though, unlike many of its climbing, twining cousins, it stands up stout and sturdy on its own.