image source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runner_bean

Perennial climber

Location Runner beans are native to the high elevation mountains of Central America. They have been domesticated for more than 2000 years by natives of the region, but wild relatives of the runner bean still occur in Guatemala and Mexico, where they grow in cool, partially shaded valleys in mixed pine-oak forests.

Others Large quantities of the raw mature seed are poisonous. The toxins play a role in protecting the plant from insect predation.