Gardening with Native Plants of the South by Sally Wasowski & Andy Wasowski

Author:Sally Wasowski & Andy Wasowski
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Lyons Press
Published: 2019-12-28T00:00:00+00:00

122. Latin Name Apios americana (A. tuberosa)

Common Name Groundnut, potato bean

Usual Height 10 to 20 feet

Spacing 6 feet

Sun or Shade

Bloom 2- to 6-inch clusters of dusty-rose to purple flowers, early to late summer, fragrant

Fruit 2- to 4-inch string bean, yellow-green, edible

Leaves 6 to 9 inches long, comprising three to seven leaflets

Attachment Twining

Native Range Stream banks, sunny edges of moist woods, thickets, eastern half of North America, Zones 3 to 10

Soil Slightly acid to slightly alkaline, rich, sand preferred

Drainage Moist, well drained

Root System A string of tubers, some as big as potatoes, aggressive, nitrogen-fixing

Companion Plants Southern sugar maple, southern red oak, sweetgum, pawpaw, butterweed, pale coneflower, sundrops, Stokes’ aster, threadleaf coreopsis

Propagation Seeds planted in the spring, tubers planted in the fall

Wildlife Pollinated by honeybees, bumblebees, and other native bees; visited by butterflies and hummingbirds; larval for silver-spotted skipper and southern cloudywing

I’ve seen groundnut in gardens and loved the shiny, dark green leaves and the sweetpea-like, very fragrant flowers. It does well on a sturdy trellis or arbor. Its roots are rather aggressive and need regular control. Although it is a handsome landscape plant, all the literature is on eating groundnut, a favorite of Amerinds and now becoming a major crop in Japan. The plant is infused with a milky sap that is mildly toxic, so if you decide to control your groundnut by regularly eating the tubers, first peel them. If you boil them, throw off the water.

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