Apios tuberosa.
Botanical name:
Apios tuberosa Moench. Leguminosae. Groundnut. Wild Bean.
Northeast America. The tubers are used as food. Kalm says this is the kopniss of the Indians on the Delaware, who ate the roots; that the Swedes ate them for want of bread, and that in 1749 some of the English ate them instead of potatoes. Winslow says that the Pilgrims, during their first winter, "were enforced to live on ground nuts." At Port Royal, in 1613, Biencourt and his followers used to scatter about the woods and shores digging ground nuts. In France, the plant is grown in the flower garden.
Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World, 1919, was edited by U. P. Hedrick.
