TORREYA 



Vol. 24 No. 3 



May-June, 1924 



THE MAN-OF-THE-EARTH OR WILD POTATO VINE 



Oliver Pkrry MKn>-:Gi';R 



I wonder how many botanists have dug out a root or tried to 

 dig out a plant of the Man-of-the-P3arth or Wild I'olatcj \'ine, 

 Ipomoea pandiirata. This vine belongs to the same genus as 

 the Morning-glory and Sweet Potato, and is often ciuite common 

 in old fields and along roadsides. It j^refers a light, sand\-, or 

 gravelly soil, and ranges from Connecticut to Ontario and 

 Michigan, on South to Florida and Texas. 



This vine is rather stout and smooth, from four to ten feet 

 long, with heart-shaped or sometimes halbert or fiddle-shaped 

 leaves, and large, white funnel-formed flowers with a deep purple 

 eye. 



A few years ago, I undertook to dig out a root of this plant. 

 A fine large vine was selected, but the root went so deep and the 

 ground was so hard and dry that after an hour's work, the task 

 was given up. 



A year or two later, after a season of rainy weather, I again 

 attempted to satisfy my curiosity and this time with better 

 success. A good healthy plant was selected, with vines not 

 more than six or seven feet long and in a situation where digging 

 would be easy. From the surface of the earth, two root-like 

 stems' extended almost vertically into the ground for about a 

 foot and then suddenly enlarged into a great fleshy root. The 

 herbaceous vine dies each autumn, but the root remains in the 

 ground year after year, the greater part of it being below the 

 frost-line. In the early summer when the effect of the warm rays 

 of the sun reaches this reservoir of food, a stem is quickly pushed 

 up through the soil and the plant spreads its leaves and flowers 

 to the light. 



After digging for two hours or longer, I had a conical hole five 

 feet in diameter and at least three feet deep, but the end of the 



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