VARIABILITY IN ANDEAN NUNA COMMON BEANS (PHASEOLUS-VULGARIS, FABACEAE)

Nunas are a group of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris, Fabaceae) variet ies, whose grains are consumed after toasting in their original Andean habitats. Nowadays, these varieties are restricted to certain parts o f the highlands of Peru and Bolivia. Linguistic, ethnobotanical, and a rchaeological data suggest that they were grown in that zone during pr e-Hispanic times. SDS-PAGE electrophoresis shows a wide range of phase olin types among nunas, many of which are present in sympatric wild fo rms. This paper discusses the possibility that nunas resulted from an early and widely applied selection pressure during bean domestication in the Andes.