Difference between revisions of "Apios americana"

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===Fire ecology=== <!--Fire tolerance, fire dependence, adaptive fire responses-->
 
===Fire ecology=== <!--Fire tolerance, fire dependence, adaptive fire responses-->
In southern Illinois brown shale barrens, ''Apios americana'' was absent in preburn sampling but present postburn, suggesting the species may require, or at least do well, in frequently burned habitats.<ref name="Heikens et al 1994">Heikens AL, West KA, Robertson PA (1994) Short-term response of chert and shale barrens vegetation to fire in southwestern Illinois. Castanea 59(3):274-285.</ref>
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In southern Illinois brown shale barrens, ''Apios americana'' was absent in preburn sampling but present postburn, suggesting the species may require, or at least do well, in burned habitats.<ref name="Heikens et al 1994">Heikens AL, West KA, Robertson PA (1994) Short-term response of chert and shale barrens vegetation to fire in southwestern Illinois. Castanea 59(3):274-285.</ref> A different study in Michigan white pine/red pine stands showed the mean percent coverage was greatest when burned once (1.62%) over a five year period (1991-1995). Biennial burn frequencies had a mean percent coverage of 1.09% and unburned areas covered 0.29%.<ref name="Neumann & Dickmann 2001">Neumann DD, Dickmann DI (2001) Surface burning in a mature stand of ''Pinus resinosa'' and ''Pinus strobus'' in Michigan:
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Effects on understory vegetation. International Journal of Wildland Fire 10:91-101.</ref>
  
 
===Pollination===
 
===Pollination===

Revision as of 11:24, 19 February 2018

Apios americana
Apios americana AFP.jpg
Photo by the Atlas of Florida Plants Database
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida - Dicots
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Genus: Apios
Species: A. americana
Binomial name
Apios americana
Medikus
APIO AMER DIST.JPG
Natural range of Apios americana from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common Names: common groundnut;[1] groundnut;[2][3] wild potato; Indian potato;[3]

Taxonomic Notes

Varieties: A. americana var. americana; A. americana var. turrigera[1]
Synonym: Glycine apios[1][2]

Description

A. americana is a dioeceious perennial that grows as a forb/herb or a vine.[2] As a vine, it can reach 1-6 m in length[4] and produces maroon or reddish-brown pea-like flowers in compact racemes arising from leaf axils. Leaves are green and alternate.[3]

Distribution

This species occurs from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Quebec, westward to Minnesota and South Dakota, southward to southern Florida and Texas.[1] The plant can also be found cultivated in Europe.[5]

Ecology

Habitat

A. americana occurs in marshes (tidal and non-tidal), wet thickets, streambanks, and bottomland forests.[1] In Washington D.C. marshes, relative cover of vegetation in reference sites was 1.60% and the relative density of seedlings emerging from seed bank samples was 1.12%.[6]

Phenology

In the southeastern and mid-Atlantic United States, flowering occurs from June through August and fruiting from July though September.[1] On the Florida panhandle, flowering has been reported in April and June through Septemeber, peaking in August and September.[7]

Fire ecology

In southern Illinois brown shale barrens, Apios americana was absent in preburn sampling but present postburn, suggesting the species may require, or at least do well, in burned habitats.[8] A different study in Michigan white pine/red pine stands showed the mean percent coverage was greatest when burned once (1.62%) over a five year period (1991-1995). Biennial burn frequencies had a mean percent coverage of 1.09% and unburned areas covered 0.29%.[9]

Pollination

The only legitimate pollinator known for A. americana are bees of the family Megachilidae.[5]

Use by animals

The cord-like rootstalk contains edible tubers that have been eaten historically by Indians and the Pilgrims in soups, stews, or fried like potatoes. Cooked seeds can also be consumed by humans.[3]

Diseases and parasites

In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, cucumber mosaic virus and Desmodium yellow mottle virus are reported to be causal agents of diseases in A. americana.[10]

Conservation and Management

Cultivation and restoration

Photo Gallery

References and notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Weakley AS (2015) Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Herbarium.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 USDA NRCS (2016) The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 16 February 2018). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC 27401-4901 USA.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Plant database: Apios americana. (16 February 2018) Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. URL: https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=APAM
  4. Reynolds BD, Blackmon WJ, Wickremesinhe E, Wells MH, Constantin RJ (1988) Domestication of Apios americana. Janick J, Simon JE (eds.) In Advances in new crops: Proceedings of the first national symposium 'New crops: research, development, economics'. Indianapolis, Indiana. 23-26 October 1988.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Bruneau A, Anderson GJ (1994) To bee or not to bee?: The pollination biology of Apios americana (Leguminosae). Plant Systematics and Evolution 192:147-149.
  6. Baldwin AH, Derico EF (1999) The seed bank of a restored tidal freshwater marsh in Washington, DC. Urban Ecosystems 3:5-20.
  7. Nelson G (16 February 2018) PanFlora. Retrieved from gilnelson.com/PanFlora/
  8. Heikens AL, West KA, Robertson PA (1994) Short-term response of chert and shale barrens vegetation to fire in southwestern Illinois. Castanea 59(3):274-285.
  9. Neumann DD, Dickmann DI (2001) Surface burning in a mature stand of Pinus resinosa and Pinus strobus in Michigan: Effects on understory vegetation. International Journal of Wildland Fire 10:91-101.
  10. Valverde RA, Provvidenti R, Clark CA (1990) Cucumber mosaic virus and Desmodium yellow mottle virus infections in wild groundnut (Apios americana). Plant Disease 74:151-153.