Runner Bean, Pole Bean or Climbing French Bean?

Great news: the runner beans have started cropping. We've had them at the table for four days in a row now -  without any grumbles.  It's only one out of five wigwams producing at the moment: Painted Lady (more of which below). Of the other four two are Barlotti Beans for drying and the other two are my "Malagrowther" beans: climbers that appeared in the middle of my dwarf French beans Canadian Wonder. I guess they are a cross or a reversion and my research suggests the closest match is "Windsor". These climb, have purple pods and mottled creamy coloured seeds. They also have lovely flowers: 



Malagrowther?


An old favourite with beautiful red flowers is Scarlet Emporer. 



Scarlet Emporer



 

  But first to crop is the two tone Painted Lady

Painted Lady

Someone (Hi Tany) asked if these were a novelty. In fact they are reckoned to be amongst the first batch of runner beans imported from Central America in or around 1633.  In England they acquired an alternative name "York and Lancaster"  representing colours of the two sides of the War of the Roses.




Flowers and Pods

 There is the perennial confusion in my mind as to the distinction between runner beans and pole beans and climbing French beans. I take the last two terms to be interchangeable.  I read that runners, unlike other climbers,  always wind themselves clockwise around a pole so I'm off to check if this is true of all the varieties I'm growing.
Another curiosity - can anyone confirm that runner beans are not popular in the US? That would be a shame if it were true!