Apili

/əˈpiːli/ noun

Definition

A tropical plant with edible tubers, also known as groundnut or earth nut.

Etymology

From indigenous Tupi language of South America, the word traveled through Portuguese colonial trade routes into scientific nomenclature for New World plants.

Kelly Says

This plant was so important to pre-Columbian societies that it became one of the first American plants Europeans named using native words—a rare acknowledgment of indigenous botanical knowledge.

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