Related and unrelated plants: Sweet potatoes, morning glories and yams

sweet potato, Ipomoea batatas

   The sweet potato, Ipomoea batatas, is a morning glory, because it is in the genus Ipomoea and lots of its close relatives are called morning glories. It looks a lot like the weedy morning glories that annoy gardeners in the U.S. South. It has pale flowers with purple centers that open early in the morning and close by midday. It is a vine, with, originally, more-or-less heart-shaped leaves. 

sweet potatoes, cooked

    Sweet potatoes are native to the Americas, where they have been cultivated for millennia. They were probably one of the earliest domesticated plants. Sweet potatoes have been found at sites in Peru dated to 8,000 - 10,000 BC. They were in widespread cultivation in both Mexico and Peru by 2500 BC. 

     Today they are grown around the world. 

Sweet potatoes with ornamental red leaves

    


     
  Columbus encountered sweet potatoes and took them to Europe.