Apios americana (MISC-LEGUMES)

Two varieties of tubers selected for size were obtained from South Carolina (where they were probably obtained from a breeding program in Louisiana) and sent to me by seedsaver Steve Cannon from the Iowa State germplasm collection. They rarely flower here but produced gorgeous pink clusters the day before our November first frost in 2021, as shown in one photo. They did not flower before our late October 2025 first frost. In theory they produce edible pods, but the southern ones do not have a long enough growing season to even flower most years in the north. The tubers are tasty and keep very well refrigerated in wet dirt. Either plant them before the ground is frozen, or refrigerate them that way and plant them after it thaws. The tubers can survive cold though the leaves cannot. I grew one variety in an unwatered spot where they climbed asparagus plants and 3' plastic orange markers instead of a trellis, and another variety near the overflowing rainbarrels (plants shown in the photos). The vines reach 10' and benefit from support but can sprawl if you have the space for that. They are used to part shade. The rainbarrel variety is shown in the first photo, and the asparagus variety is shown in the second photo. The asparagus-variety tubers are large because I did not harvest any until this year, and there are not as many new tubers because I did not weed that area and it was not near the rain barrels (which often overflow). I will not mail anyone those. A local variety that grows luxuriantly next to a stream at the U Michigan Botanical Garden flowered in August. I was told varieties north of the Mason-Dixon line are triploid and spread vegetatively but do not produce seeds, while the more southern varieties produce seed and thus cross. I got a request for my southern variety from someone in the north who already had the northern variety. My varieties spread a few feet each year underground, via connecting rhizomes and invade new areas including paths covered with carpets. Use a pitchfork to dig them out. If you try to pull them out of soil the rhizomes break. Most rhizomes are easily removed from the tubers by hand. The varieties are planted far away from each other. When Ann Arbor was in climate zone 5a (low of -22F in 1988) the first frost occurred in September, but the globe has warmed since then. Temperatures and rainfall here are erratic. The Apios ignores heavy rain or lack of rain. I will send 5 tubers, small and medium size, weighing about 4 ounces. Include bean seeds for only $1 extra shipping charge for up to 8 ounces total. I do not promise to have tubers until the end of November. I may find space in the refrigerator to keep some in damp soil. A few friends want to eat some. My partner throws up if he eats any of these tubers, which he did twice. So do 5% of other people. Eat only a small amount as a test before you eat more apios. AKA hopniss, American groundnut, and many other names oragerchef.com/hunt-for-the-hopniss There are a lot of Youtube videos about how to grow and cook the hopniss. In Ireland, with a longer growing season and a lot of rain, the yields are much higher. People harvest huge amounts of wild ones. I have only seen wild ones here at the botanic garden.