Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Fabales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Apios americana
FAMILY
Fabaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Learn more about American Groundnut from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Apios americana
FAMILY
Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Native & naturalized Leguminosae (Fabaceae) of the US (Isely, 1998)
Apios americana
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 098-39-001:
Apios americana FAMILY Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Glycine apios
COMMON NAME:
American Groundnut, Common Groundnut
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
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USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_apam_005_lvd
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USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_glap_001_lvd
)
Keith Bradley kab_apios_americana_1350
July Henderson County NC
Pisgah National Forest
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JK Marlow jkm060826_056
August Greenville County SC
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JK Marlow jkm060826_058
August Greenville County SC
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JK Marlow jkm090815_098
August Greenville County SC
Beaverpond & adjacent land
Sweetly fragrant brown-purple flowers arise in racemes from leaf axils, per Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005).
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JK Marlow jkm090815_103
August Greenville County SC
Beaverpond & adjacent land
)
JK Marlow jkm110814_259
August Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
)
JK Marlow jkm110814_265
August Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
)
JK Marlow jkm130823_515
August Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
Flowers 1/2" long, petals thick and brownish-purple, racemes dense & compact, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).
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JK Marlow jkm140822_944945
August Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
The keel strongly curved inward, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
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JK Marlow jkm140822_946
August Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_apios_americana
August
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JK Marlow s090815_05
August Greenville County SC
Beaverpond & adjacent land
Leaves pinnately compound with 5-7 ovate-lanceolate leaflets, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
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JK Marlow jkm090924_069
September Hancock County ME
Acadia National Park: Wild Gardens of Acadia
)
JK Marlow jkm110924_612
September Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
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Sam Pratt sbp_2731
September Spartanburg County SC
In cultivation
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Sam Pratt sbp_2732
September Spartanburg County SC
In cultivation
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Sam Pratt sbp_2733
September Spartanburg County SC
In cultivation
Roots with numerous enlargements [tubers], per Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001).
)
Sam Pratt sbp_2737
September Spartanburg County SC
In cultivation
Native Americans used the root tubers as a staple food source, per Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001).
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Sam Pratt sbp_2740
September Spartanburg County SC
In cultivation
Tubers can be used in soups and stews, or fried like potatoes, per Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001).
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Bill Stringer wcsgroundnut_2b
September
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JK Marlow jkm111016_031
October Greenville County SC
Swamp Rabbit Trail
Fruit: Many-seeded linear legumes, 2-4" long, about 0.25" wide, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Apios americana
FAMILY
Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Apios americana
FAMILY
Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Native & naturalized Leguminosae (Fabaceae) of the US (Isely, 1998)
Apios americana
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 098-39-001:
Apios americana
FAMILY
Fabaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Glycine apios
108
Herbaceous vine
Perennial
Habitat: marshes (tidal and non-tidal), wet thickets, streambanks, bottomland forests, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Odd-pinnately compound: (3)5-7 leaflets
Mostly alternate
FLOWER:
Summer
Brownish-purple/ Pinkish-maroon
Bilaterally symmetrical
5-lobed broadly campanulate calyx
5-parted papilionaceous corolla
10 stamens, diadelphous, 9 and 1
Superior ovary
Raceme
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Legume
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001) p327
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p470
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Newcomb, 1977) p108
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p474
- Wildflowers of the Carolina Lowcountry (Porcher, 1995) p103
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p039
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p185
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p125
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p161
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p086
- Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region (Sorrie, 2011) p261
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