Groundnut
Given Name: Apios americana
Nicknames: wild bean, potato bean, American potato bean, American potato, Indian-potato, hopniss, hodoimo, medikus
Family: Fabaceae/Leguminosae (Pea)
Nana nana na na! You can't find me!
I'm hiding- well, actually, one of my most wonderful parts is hiding. Do you want to search for it? C'mon... it'll be fun. Great, let's go!
Hmmmm... you spotted a 8-16 foot vine? You're getting warmer.
The vine has alternate compound leaves, each containing 5-7 leaflets? Even warmer.
You follow my vine down to the ground? You're hot, Hot, HOT!
You are so close to the buried treasure! Oh, lucky you! Now, you can pretend to be a pirate who followed a treasure map to this moist, well-drained spot that is ideal for me to grow. You better start digging! But, for what, you ask? You'll see... you'll see! It's just below the surface. Ooooo! You're burning up you're so close!
Ahah! You found it: my edible, nutty, potato-flavoured tuber.
I know it doesn't glisten like gold or sparkle like jewels but underneath that brown skin is a white flesh that is rich in calcium and iron and contains about 17% protein (that's three times the amount of a potato!). Plus, studies have shown that my tubers may help to protect against breast, colon and prostate cancer. Sure sounds like buried treasure to me!
But the fun doesn't stop when you find the first tuber. Oh no! You need to follow my long underground rhizome to the next tuber. And the next. And the next! I can have two to 20 tubers per plant with up to 30 cm between tubers so you could be digging for a while. You should save this scavenger hunt, though, until I've been established for at least two years- that's when you'll get the largest tuber harvest.
I don't seem to get harvested a lot these days, though. When people pick their "Team Food", I'm usually left sitting on the bench with good King Henry, sea kale and other edible plants that people have forgotten about. But I wasn't always overlooked: I used to be the captain of the tuber team! Ethnohistoric records for eastern North American First Nations communities indicate that I was used as food more often than any other kind of tuber.
Oh, how I remember the days when the Iroquois would hide me in the ground around their settlements and then come and find me in the late fall after the frost. Sometimes, they wouldn't dig me up until a midwinter thaw or even spring. For me, that just prolonged the fun. I just loved the anticipation of waiting to be found! And they, of course, loved the security of having so much stored food.
Other First Nations people would come and find me in the wild. That was exciting too! I always imagined them yelling, “Come out come out wherever you are”. But I wouldn't. They had to search. And I had the best hiding places- although I tended to be in the sun or part shade, my flexibility in soil pH conditions made my spots more unpredictable. Once I was found, though, people could count on a great prize because of my slightly aggressive growth habits.
This game was so important to the Mi'kmaq of Nova Scotia that the town name of Shubenacadie translates into “abounding in groundnuts”.
Oh no, you misunderstand. I'm certainly not making light of the great responsibility that comes with being edible. I just feel that there's so much joy involved in growing and finding food. Sure, it's not always like that. I, of all plants, know there are are serious moments.
After all, I was evaluated as a possible solution for the Irish potato famine.
Learning that you might be responsible for feeding millions of people is about as serious as it gets. And, if disease and blight resistant potatoes hadn't been developed before I was put to work, I would have solemnly accepted that duty. But most of the time things aren't that dire. Most of the time, we can all delight in the magic of gardening and foraging.
Do you like magic?
I sure do! Wanna hear about one of my tricks? It's actually one that all my leguminous relatives can do too. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, get ready to be amazed and astounded! See that nitrogen in the air? Hehe... made you look... it's invisible, silly (and no, I didn't make it disappear).
I can take that atmospheric nitrogen and... don't blink because you might miss the magic... alakazam alakazants, I turn it into a form, in the soil, that can nourish plants.
Oooooooo... ahhhhhhh! Pretty impressive, right? And it's a useful trick to boot, helping me and the plants around me survive in nutrient poor soils. But I can't take all the credit for it.
No, there's a mysterious league of underground magicians, known collectively as nitrogen fixing bacteria, and some of them, Rhizobium, hang out on my roots and help me perform this trick.
I know it sounds crazy but I'm not making it up. I pinkie promise. Yes, my vines are crossed but I just can't help how they twine counterclockwise all over each other. I swear I'm not lying. Well except when I don't have anything for my vines to climb onto and then I lie everywhere. Lol!
Oooooo... that reminds me... you know what you can do with my vines when you cut them back in the fall (I mean, you might as well use them since they're killed by the frost anyway)? Play dress up. Oh, don't poo-poo that! You know you want to... just let your inner child loose! You'd look positively regal with my vines draped around you as robe and my string of tubers as a necklace. Or, even better, a crown! Yes! You could be great Apios (me!), ruler of the world. It's not such a wild fantasy. If human history had been slightly different I just might have had the chance to lead the world: at least the food world.
In the 1800s, America's leading botanist, Harvard educated Asa Gray, stated his opinion that if advanced civilization had begun in America, I would have been the first developed edible tuber crop and would have held a place in competition with potato and sweet potato.
Mmmmmm.... my mashed tubers spiced with chilli powder and loaded with cheese on your dinner plate. That's a heady thought, especially because I've heard that some people play with their food. I'd be totally into that!
So what can we do now? Yup, I'm bored too. No, not cards- every time I see a spade I get way too excited about digging in the dirt. Not Monopoly either- it reminds me that Japan is the only country that grows me commercially as a food crop. Hey, I've got it! How about I Spy? Perfect:
I spy with my little eye something that is maroon.
Hmmmm... you're right, this isn't fair- you need to know where I grow so that you can guess what I see. My native range is eastern North America from Canada to southern Florida but I've also spread to many temperate and subtropical climates around the world. Well, that doesn't really narrow things down a lot, does it? What if I give you a hint?
What I spy can only be seen from June to August.
No, silly, it's not your Aunt's summer wardrobe! Another hint?
It smells like cinnamon.
Still no idea? Okay... one more clue:
it looks like a clump of pea flowers and grows into a bean pod containing edible seeds.
Isn't this fun? Do you know? Do you, do you?
Why yes, it is my clump of 5 petalled-flowers!
Aren't they pretty? I dare you to eat one. No? I triple dog dare ya! Just a little nibble? Still, no? Well, you're a spoil sport- they are edible, you know. Do you at least want to hear about what they can do? Oh goodie! So, have you ever hidden somewhere and jumped out to surprise a friend? Well, my flowers kind of do that with pollinators. You see, when insects, generally flies, touch my blooms, *POOF!* there's an explosive movement within my floral parts that dusts the insects with pollen. It's really a great prank- you should see their faces!
Now, if you like pranks, I bet you like jokes too. I've got a great one to tell before I go:
Knock knock?
You: Who's there?
American potato bean
You: American potato bean who?
American potato been asking you to play with me!
So? What do you say? Am I going to be your new garden playmate? Maybe your dinner play-t-mate? He he he!
See ya later, alligator,
Playful Groundnut
References:
“Apios americana” (n.d.). North Carolina State Extension. https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/apios-americana/
Belamkar, V., Wenger, A., Kalberer, S.R., Bhattacharya, V.G., Blackmon, W.J. and Cannon, S.B. (2015), Evaluation of Phenotypic Variation in a Collection of Apios americana: An Edible Tuberous Legume. Crop Science, 55(2). 712-726. https://doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2014.04.0281
Burnham, R.J. (2008-2014). "CLIMBERS: Censusing Lianas in Mesic Biomes of Eastern RegionS."
Carlisi, J., Wollard, D. (2005). History, Culture, and Nutrition of Apios americana, Journal of Nutraceuticals, Functional & Medical Foods, 4(3-4), 85-92, DOI: 10.1300/J133v04n03_06
“Plants of Louisiana: Apios americana” (n.d.). USGS. https://warcapps.usgs.gov/PlantID/Species/Details/2812
Reynolds, B.D., W.J. Blackmon, E. Wickremesinhe, M.H. Wells, and R.J. Constantin. (1990). Domestication of Apios americana. p. 436-442. In: J. Janick and J.E. Simon (eds.), Advances in new crops. Timber Press, Portland, OR. Available: https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1990/V1-436.html
Trinklein, D. (2020, January 10). University of Missouri: Integrated Pest Management. https://ipm.missouri.edu/MEG/2020/1/groundNut/
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