''Apios priceana'' is a rare species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names Price's potato-bean, Price's groundnut, and traveler's delight. It is a climbing yellow-green

vine A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themsel ...

in the growing from a stout,

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

-like

tuber Tubers are a type of enlarged structure used as storage organs for nutrients in some plants. They are used for the plant's perennation (survival of the winter or dry months), to provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growin ...

. The plant is native to the

Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the southern United States and the southern por ...

Description

The vines may be up to long. It has a large underground

, distinguishing it from other ''

Apios ''Apios'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae The Faboideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. An acceptable alternative name for the subfamily is P ...

'' species. The leaves are alternately arranged on the stem, about long, and comprising seven leaflets. The fragrant pale pink or greenish-yellow pea-like

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s bloom in the summer. The fruit is a long slender pod about long.

Distribution and habitat

The plant is native to the U.S. states of

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

, and

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. It occurred in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

in the past but its population there was destroyed.The Nature Conservancy
/ref> It is usually associated with openings in the

forest canopy In biology, the canopy is the aboveground portion of a plant cropping or crop, formed by the collection of individual plant crowns. In forest ecology, canopy also refers to the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns an ...

in mixed hardwood stands where ravine slopes grade into creek or stream bottoms.

Ecology

The flowers are

pollinated Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds, a ...

by bees and the

long-tailed skipper The long-tailed skipper (''Urbanus proteus'') is a spread-winged skipper butterfly found throughout tropical and subtropical South America, south to Argentina and north into the Eastern United States and southern Ontario. It cannot live in area ...

(''Urbanus proteus''). The threatened status of the species is primarily due to

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

, but other impacts such as disease, predation, and historical tuber collection have also contributed.

Conservation

With about 25 known occurrences, the plant is federally listed as a

threatened species Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of '' critical depen ...

Uses

The plant was probably used as a food source by

Indigenous peoples of the Americas The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...

and early white settlers.

References

External links

*
USDA Plants Profile

* USFWS
Threatened status for ''Apios priceana'' (Price’s Potato-bean).
''Federal Register'' January 5, 1990. {{Taxonbar, from=Q4779860 Phaseoleae NatureServe imperiled species Flora of the Great Lakes region (North America) Flora of the Southeastern United States