American groundnut
Apios americana · Legume family
Plant portrait
This climber carries compound leaves and linked underground tubers.
Harvested part
The tubers of cultivated American groundnut.
What to watch for
Follow the twining stems; the illustrated tubers are not pods.
Growth stages of the American groundnut
Plotilo illustrates the American groundnut in 5 stages in 3D: seed, small sprout, young plant, growing and harvest. The models show typical shapes; they do not predict how long growth takes.
- Seed
Starting from a seed. It is shown on the surface to make it visible in this illustration.
- Small sprout
A short first stem and its first small leaves emerge.
- Young plant
The young plant carries more leaves and starts to take its own shape.
- Growing
Leaves and stems develop. Their shape depends on the species.
- Harvest
An illustration of the harvested part. Roots are made visible for clarity; this image does not confirm actual maturity.
Same botanical family
Same botanical family as the American groundnut (the legume family): the green bean, the pea, the broad bean, the Lima bean, the runner bean and the yardlong bean. Gardeners usually avoid growing the same family in the same spot several years in a row: that is the idea behind crop rotation.