Species Native to Missouri
Common Name: american potato bean
Type: Vine
Family: Fabaceae
Native Range: Central and eastern United States, eastern Canada
Zone: 4 to 9
Height: 10.00 to 15.00 feet
Spread: 2.00 to 5.00 feet
Bloom Time: June to August
Bloom Description: Reddish-purple to pinkish-brown
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium to wet
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Vegetable, Naturalize
Flower: Showy
Attracts: Butterflies
Fruit: Edible
Culture
Best grown in evenly moist to wet, well-draining, humusy, sandy, or gravelly loams in full sun to part shade. Will tolerate shady conditions but best growth and bloom performance with more sun. Hardy in Zones 4-9. Propagate from seeds or division of tubers. Pre-soaking or scarifying the seeds will improve germination rate. Germinates in 1-3 months. Plant tubers in spring and provide structure for the shoots to climb up. Harvest tubers in fall from plants that are at least 2-3 years old. Vigorous grower that can be considered somewhat aggressive. Will spread by seeds and underground tubers.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Apios americana is a herbaceous, tuberous perennial vine native to eastern North America where it grows in moist thickets, prairies, bottomlands, along the edges of woodlands, marshes, and streambanks. The twining stems emerge from underground, fleshy tubers and will climb 10-15' up surrounding shrubby vegetation. The compound leaves are made up of 5-7, 1-3" long ovate to ovate-lanceolate leaflets. Reddish-purple to brownish-pink, pea-type flowers bloom in 2-6" long axillary clusters in summer. The blooms are attractive to bees and other insect pollinators, and the foliage is a larval food source for a number of insects including the southern cloudywing and silver-spotted skipper. The 2-4" long, linear seedpods mature from mid-summer into fall.
The specific epithet americana means "of the Americas" in reference to the native range of this species.
Problems
No major pest or disease problems of note.
Uses
Accent vine for vegetable gardens. Allow to naturalize along woodland edges or other moist, partly shaded areas. The tubers are edible and can be used in similar ways as potatoes including roasted, mashed, fried, or boiled. The seeds are also edible and can be cooked and used like other legumes.