Groundnut (Wild Potato Vine)

Apios americana

Illustration: Groundnut vine (Apios americana) with tubers

Identification: Climbing vine with pinnate leaves (5–7 leaflets) and fragrant brownish-purple pea-like flower clusters. Strings of small tubers on underground rhizomes.

Dangerous look-alikes: No toxic look-alike once tubers are found on the vine's rhizome — but confirm the pea-like flowers and vine habit first.

Edible parts: Tubers (the 'nuts' on a string).

Season and habitat: Fall through spring — tubers sweeten after frost. Moist thickets, stream banks.

Preparation: Boil, roast, or fry like potatoes — rich, nutty, high in protein. A staple crop of Native Americans; the Pilgrims survived on them.

Notes: Harvest sustainably — take only some tubers from each string so the colony persists.