This section is from "The Horticulturist, And Journal Of Rural Art And Rural Taste", by P. Barry, A. J. Downing, J. Jay Smith, Peter B. Mead, F. W. Woodward, Henry T. Williams. Also available from Amazon: Horticulturist and Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste.
This plant, which from the edible character of its root, has attracted considerable attention in France, is found in the same neighborhood. It is a vine often ten feet in length, with handsome pinnate leaves, and thick clusters of brick-red, papilionaceous flowers; their fragrance is peculiar, strongly resembling that of fine green tea. (It produces a large number of small oblong tubers, the largest about the size of a dove's egg, strung upon its roots four or five inches apart. As freezing does not injure them, they may be dug in autumn or spring; and at the latter season, the only time I have tried them, much resemble a mealy potato, to which they are superior in flavor. From a vine which has stood in my garden for many years, and covers a small trellis, I dig a few handfuls annually, as a curiosity, and the parent stock remains uninjured. Should it improve by cultivation, as the potato has done, it would rival that important plant, and perhaps may become a useful substitute for it.)
 
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