VINES AND SHRUBS 



Pea Vine 



V, americana. — Color, purplish. This species has 4 to & flowers, 

 rather large, in the raceme, which is shorter than the leaves, 

 straggling. Leaves, 5 to 7 pairs ended by long tendrils, with 

 stipules nearly £ inch broad and sharply toothed. May to Au- 

 gust. 



Wet soil, as river-banks, from Virginia and Kentucky 

 northward. Found 3,500 feet high in Virginia. 



Groundnut. Wild Bean 



Apios tuberosa (name means "a pear," from the shape of the 

 tubers) . — Family, Pulse. Color, brownish purple. Calyx, slightly 

 2-lipped, the 2 upper teeth short, the 2 lateral ones nearly in- 

 visible, the lower one long. Corolla, papilionaceous, with a broad, 

 turned-back standard and scythe-shaped keel. Flowers, in short, 

 thick racemes, on axillary peduncles, pleasantly violet-scented. 

 Leaves, divided into 3 to 7 long, narrow leaflets, with small stipules. 

 Leaves much longer than the raceme of flowers. Stems, slender, 

 somewhat hairy, with a little milky juice, climbing and massing 

 over bushes. Pods produce kidney-shaped beans variously and 

 prettily marked and colored. July to September. 



This plant bears strings of underground, edible tubers, 

 joined by offshoots. It is of prolific growth, found in low, 

 wet grounds and moist thickets from New England to Florida 

 and westward. 



Wild Bean. Bean Vine. Kidney Bean 



Phaseolus polyst&chyus. — Family, Pulse. Color, purple. Calyx, 

 5-toothed, the 2 upper divisions somewhat united. Corolla, 

 papilionaceous, with a spirally coiled keel including the stamens 

 and style. Pod, long, curved, 4 to 5 -seeded, tipped with the 

 base of the style. Leaves, 3 -foliate, with roundish to ovate, 

 pointed leaflets, 2 to 4 inches long. July to September. 



Flowers in short or long racemes, often crowded. One of 

 our prettiest climbers, overtopping shrubs and stout herbs, 

 displaying handsome flowers and graceful leaves, making 

 many rough and bare spots soft and beautiful. Roadsides, 

 thickets, etc., from Connecticut to Illinois, southward to 

 Florida. 



The garden kidney or string-bean, P. vulgaris, was probably 

 imported from South America by Spanish slave-traders. 



From before the time when Daniel and his three friends 

 begged for a diet of pulse (beans) in exchange for the king's 

 table, this vegetable has been esteemed a valuable food, 



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