THE SWEET POTATO. 11 



far as known to the writer, this occurs only when a 

 rot has attacked the tuber. 



In 1686 John Eay (Hist. Phant. Tomus I, p. 728) 

 describes the sweet potato under: Convolvulus 

 indicus, Battatas dictus. He quotes Clusius and 

 Marcgrav largely, and also says that the roots, when 

 cut, give off latex.- He thinks it must be a species 

 of Convolvulus, not so much, he says, on account of 

 the similarity in foliage and vines and in the pos- 

 session of latex, but because a certain Fr. Hernandez 

 painted and ascribed to this species, which he (F. H.) 

 called Cacamotic Tlanoquiloni or Batatas purga- 

 tivum, malvaceous flowers, i. e., ' ' Caliculorum forma 

 vel cjinbalorum. " 



Ray cites Marcgrav as describing other species 

 under the names of ''Omenapo," **Yeima Brasilien- 

 sibus" and "Pararo," the first a white variety, 

 which turned red on boiling, the last with purple 

 stems and veins. As he gives no exact reference, 

 the author has not been able to verify this state- 

 ment. Marcgrav, however, does not include such 

 descriptions under the headings of Jetica or Batatas. 



In 1688 Eheede (Hortus Malabaricus, p. 95, pi. 

 50), under Kappa-Kelengu, Batatas (Bramannice) 

 Cananga, Lusit. Batatas, Belgice Pattates, describes 

 the sweet potato as blood-red outside and flesh- 

 colored within, watery, of a somewhat sweetish taste ; 

 with hairy, rough stems, watery within; petioles 

 oblong, round, green, falcate, hairy, more or less 

 rough ; leaf -bases surrounded by roots ; leaves cuspi- 

 date, incised around base, thin, soft, glabrous, dark 

 green above, light below; the midrib giving off two 

 lateral veins, from which others spring, arching in 

 near the margin, protruding on the lower side. 



Eheede states distinctlv that this is the ' ' Camotes 



