Fava bean
Vicia faba
A cool-season annual legume of the bean family (Fabaceae), also called broad bean, grown as a vegetable for its edible seeds and pods. NC State Extension describes a stiffly erect plant 2-6 feet tall with leaves of 2-6 leaflets and conspicuous toothed stipules, bearing fragrant white spring-and-summer flowers marked with a purplish or brown blotch. The fruit is a narrowly oblong flattened pod up to 11 inches long holding up to 6 large oval seeds. Like other legumes it fixes nitrogen from the air and is often used as a cover crop; it grows best in cool weather, with poor yields once daytime temperatures exceed the mid-70s.
Edible
Pollinator
Structure
Light
Full sun
Water
Moderate water
Mature size
24-72" tall · 12" apart
Hardy in zones
Annual; NC State lists no winter hardiness zone — grown as a cool-season vegetable
AHS heat range
1-6
Plant range authored in AHS heat-zone terms.
Native in Illinois
No
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Fava bean is largely self-fertile and sets pods on its own, but its fragrant white flowers blotched with purple or brown are also insect-attractive — NC State Extension reports the flowers attract bees, wasps, and lady beetles, so the crop earns real pollinator value while in bloom even though it does not depend on a separate pollinizer to set seed.
Cold hardiness
This plant is grown as an annual; hardiness zones don't apply.
Heat tolerance
Heat tolerance values are location-based too: heat days today are observed at this site, and the 2050 value projects this same location under a future climate.
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Sources & citations
Cite this page
For lesson plans, articles, or research that uses this page. To cite a single upstream fact instead, use its specific source listed below.
Plotwright. (2026, May 17). Fava bean (Vicia faba). Retrieved 2026, June 24, from https://plotwright.com/plants/vicia-faba
Sources for every fact
Every fact on this page traces to a source. 18 fields cited - 18 source-backed.
NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox
University extension service
Backs 17 fields
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