HogPeanut

Hog Peanut

This picture was taken in 2008 by one of Mr. Todd's students.

 Hog Peanut is a vine plant, and the leaves are no longer than 3". Small beans appear after the flowers burry themselves under the ground .   The flowers are irregular shapes and are grow to 0.7 inches long. They are purple tinged or completely creamy white they can also be pink. Blooms first appear in late summer and continue into early fall (August to September). The family it belongs to is the pea family. The vine can climb to 3 feet tall. This flower is native to America. Hog Peanut belongs to the Leguminosae family. It likes to live in cool, damp woodlands, cultivated beds, sunny edge, dappled shade, shady edge, or deep shade. The seeds ripen from September to October which you can eat either raw or cooked. It is also used in some medicines for the treatment of diarrhoea and applied to bites from rattlesnakes externally. The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. I think this plant is growing in our prairie because we have a damp cool forrest and a stream that flows right through the forrest.

http://2bnthewild.com/plants/H372.htm (Where Hog Peanut comes from and simple uses)

http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/amphicarpaeabrac.html (The family and some characteristics)

http://communitysupportedforestry.com/Hog_Peanut.htm (Example of people growing the plant)