Well, the latin has just left my head, was there just a second ago....maybe some of you are familiar with it by its common name...

After the major flooding we had this spring we came across several potato-like tubers lying exposed on the hardpan in one of our fields. Not knowing what they were but curious enough to find out, I brought a few of the nicer ones home and put them in a pot alongside some scraggly little hostas. It took quite a while for the leaves to appear and open, but after much anticipation I have decided that my mystery 'spuds' are groundnut. A bit of reading tells me that they are a member of the pea family, a native-which is good because I was afraid they would turn out to be something like more phragmites ar chinese yam-- and that Henry David Thoreau even depended on them for a season when his potato crop failed. Although I don't recall ever seeing them here around the house, they they are a rather attractive plant with a leaf pattern that tends to remind me of elderberry.

My question is this: one reference used the word "aggressive" in describing their habits. RIght now they seem innocent enough trying to gain foothold in the bark of the hackberry tree they are under....what are the repercussions of leaving them there?