baby lima bean plant Phaseolus lunatus L. PLANTS:PHLU2 MANSFELD:27587 In the United Kingdom and the United States, "butter beans" refers to either dried beans which can be purchased to rehydrate, or the canned variety which are ready to use. In culinary use there, lima beans and butter beans are distinct, the latter being large and yellow, the former small and green. In areas where both are considered to be lima beans, the green variety may be labelled as "baby" (and less commonly "junior") limas. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lima_bean] lima bean plant Phaseolus lunatus requires discussion