Amphicarpaea bracteata

Hog-peanut
Inflorescence
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Genus: Amphicarpaea
Species: A. bracteata
Binomial name
Amphicarpaea bracteata
(L.) Fernald

Amphicarpaea bracteata (hog-peanut or ground bean) is an annual to perennial vine in the legume family, native to woodland, thickets, and moist slopes in eastern North America.[1]

Description

Leaves have three leaflets and are held alternately on twining stems.

Flowers are pink to white and bloom from late summer to autumn. The flowers are either open for cross-pollination or closed and self-pollinating. The closed flowers may be above or below ground.[2]

Seeds from open flowers are held in a flat pod, pointed at both ends, that dries when mature and twists to release the seeds. Seeds from closed flowers are held in round pods with a single seed each. The roots and seeds are edible.[3] The seeds from underground flowers give it the name peanut.

References

  1. ↑ Amphicarpaea bracteata (L.) Fernald, USDA PLANTS
  2. ↑ "Consequences of a mixed reproductive system in the hog peanut, Amphicarpaea bracteata, (Fabaceae)", Oecologia 75 (2), March 1988: 285–290, doi:10.1007/BF00378611, ISSN 1432-1939
  3. ↑ Amphicarpaea bracteata - (L.)Rickett.&Stafleu., Plants For A Future

External links

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