Reading Purple

This bean was passed to our donor by an allotment neighbour. The huge plants (up to 2.7m) have purple-veined, dark green leaves and purple stems and purple and lilac flowers followed by long, flat purple pods that change to green when cooked. These tasty pods are stringless if picked young. Unusually, this bean loses its leaves as the pods begin to dry. Seed colour pale cream to buff with grey speckles.