This bean was in a Joseph Simcox collection that I had acquired. I was able to look up the bean by name on a USDA seed bank site and it said origin UK. I think it's on a site when you google Grin Global. There isn't much else about the bean on the site as far as I remember.
Thanks for your explanation about where you found the very small amount of information about Ferrat bean and its apparent UK origin. Using your explanation here I found the databank entry at
It does indeed suggest that it was given to the data bank by Joseph Simcox and that before 2005 it came from UK. The puzzling thing though is that it states that the seeds are white whereas the network seeds are tan coloured. It seems that it was last grown in 2013 but this doesn't look like the discolouration which comes with age. Also you've marked on the packet 'Tan short seed' which I assume confirms that tan is the true colour of this strain. So a bit of a mystery all round. Did Joseph Simcox collect from UK I wonder? As far as I know it's no longer known in UK.
So finally getting around to making some decisions about what I'll plant this year and started comparing seed packets to my inventory list and discovered two bean varieties were missing. So several hours later and I've found one of the packets with some flower seeds I intended to plant last year but the other is still MIA. Not a Network variety but an Appalachian bean that I pushed back the previous two years due to lack of space.
Good news is that I can still aquire the bean from the local grower I originally purchased it from. I was planning a small order anyway but hopefully I find the missing seed packet before then.
Would I have realized the bean was missing had I not checked against my inventory? Maybe. Would I have realized in time to acquire more seed? Doubtful. Do I recommend keeping some sort of inventory system? Absolutely!
I have no idea where Joseph collected the bean that I have of Ferrat in a packet. But I am just going to continue to go by what I have of this bean as it is.
In 2016 I made a large donation of beans to this same seed bank. 168 varieties in all. I checked many of the entries they made of my donation and they made mistakes. I think they had a bunch of limas as Phaseolus Vulgaris. I'm sure I gave them the correct species on all the beans. It wouldn't surprise me if someone at that seed bank made an error in color when entering Ferrat into their records.
npgsweb.ars-grin.gov
