The dried seeds of green beans, when mature, are known as Great Northern beans. These medium-sized white beans are traditionally prepared in the United States as Boston baked beans, and in France as the dish known as cassoulet. Rather bland-tasting, these beans receptively take on the flavors of the foods with which they are cooked.
Although "beans" usually means the seeds of bean plants, it can also mean (especially in the US) the whole young pods of bean plants, which if picked before the pods ripen and dry, can be tender enough to eat whole, whether cooked or raw. Thus the word "green beans" means "green" in the sense of unripe (many are not in fact green in color), because the beans inside the pods of green beans are often too small to form a significant part of the cooked vegetable.
navy beans (most common "baked" bean), pinto beans (most common "refried" bean), black beans (less common "refried" bean), kidney beans