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Reprinted from the Journal of the New York Botanical Garden, June, 1924. 



THE FLOWERS AND SEED OF SWEET POTATOES 



In the rather voluminous literature pertaining to sweet 

 potatoes there are few references to the actual production of 

 seed. In general experience the sweet potato has been so de- 

 cidedly barren and unfruitful that the Standard Cyclopedia of /X?t.*^. 

 Horticulture (Vol. 6, page 3290, 1917) says of it "flowers and 

 fruits are rarely seen." A still more recent volume, which is 

 entirely devoted to "The Sweet Potato" (Hand and Cockerham, — O 

 1 921) gives only one paragraph on the flowers and fruit as 

 follows: — " Flowers and seed. — Although rarely producing flowers 

 and less frequently maturing perfect seed in the sweet potato 

 producing areas of the United States, occasionally a small bell- 

 or morning-glory-shaped bloom, with a purple throat and white 

 margin, may be noticed in commercial fields. Matured seed 

 may be produced if the growing period is prolonged by the use 

 of artificial means. These seeds, however, are unreliable for 

 use in perpetuating varieties, as the resulting plants cannot be 

 depended on as coming true to the mother plant. In fact, 

 they may differ widely among themselves. This characteristic 

 enables the production of new varieties by selecting strong and 

 prepotent offspring." 



Information regarding the flowering and the production of 

 seeds by sweet potatoes is hence of general inttiest in its bearing 

 on sterilities in plants and of a special and practical value to 

 those who may wish to attempt improvement of this plant by 

 breeding from seed. To this end the writer has attempted to 

 summarize the published records of seed production in sweet 

 potatoes and to supplement these with data obtained (principally 

 in 1 92 1 and 1922) through correspondence with persons who 

 have had opportunity to make observations of this plant. 



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