Dry edible beans, or field beans, come in a wide variety of market classes, including kidney bean, navy bean, pinto bean and black bean. These beans, although differing in seed size and coloring, are all just different types of a single species, Phaseolus vulgaris L. Originally domesticated in Central and South America over 7,000 years ago, dry beans moved their way northward through Mexico and spread across most of the continental U.S.