Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Vine General: Prostrate, scandent or twining perennial with slender, striate, sparsely puberulent stems 2-10 dm long, onder ones often strongly zigzag; root woody, to 1.5 cm in diameter, stipules oblong-lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate .8-1.5 mm wide, 3-5 mm long, strongly striate, finely puberulent to subglabrate. Leaves: Petioles 1-3 cm long, sparsely puberulent, leaflets ovate to broadly rhombic-ovate, symmetrical or nearly so, entire, 1.5-3.5 cm wide, 2-5.5 cm long, rather leathery, light green, subglabrate and finely reticulate-veined above, slightly paler, sparsely puberulent and conspicuously veined beneath, acute to obtuse and slightly emarginated at apex, rounded to broadly cuneate at base. Flowers: Peduncles usually surpassing leaes, to 30 cm long, flowering racemes equaling or exceeding basal portion; pedicels slender, 3-5 mm long, and ascending at anthesis, to 1.5 cm long and reflexed in fruit; calyx broadly campanulate, 2-3 mm high, fully as wide, subglabrate, teeth broader than long, shorter than tube, corolla pale lavender, 6-9 mm long. Fruits: Pods 4-7 mm wide, 3-4 cm long, more or less falcate, very abruptly turned upward at base, abruptly prostrate at apex, strongly flattened, glabrous. Ecology: Found on valley floors and rocky hillsides, common to oak woodlands to down to upper margins of Sonoran Desert from 4,500-7,000 ft (1372-2134 m); flowers August-September. Distribution: AZ, sw NM, s TX; south to c MEX. Notes: Similar to other bean species by being a spreading vine with a flower containing a keel which curls back; distinguished by being a perennial with entire, rounded, egg-shaped leaflets with rounded to pointed tips, and rough hairs that make them feel like sandpaper, the leaflets lager and more rounded than most regional species; also distinctive are the broad, flattened, falcate pods. This species has been placed under multiple names. It has a odd, disjunct distribution in many habitats and may have been carried to those locations and planted by prehistoric Native Americans. Ethnobotany: The seeds which are quick to fall from ripened pods are large and can be prepared like teparies. Etymology: Phaseolus is from Greek phaselos, a little boat or light vessel, referring to its pod, while ritensis is a reference to the Santa Rita Mountains. Synonyms: Phaseolus ritensis, Phaseolus metcalfei Editor: SBuckley 2010, FSCoburn 2015