AMERICAN VARIETIES OF SWEET POTATOES. 7 



for a deep purple stain at the base of the blade and the summit of the petiole ; 

 the latter otherwise green, hairy, or nearly smooth. Roots white, smooth, 

 without veins or ribs, varying from fusiform to cylindrical in shape, of me- 

 dium to large size ; flesh white, but dull or grayish white or light yellow when 

 baked, only slightly sweet, quite dry and mealy, and firm in texture. Flavor 

 not pronounced. 



The Ticotea group contains only two varieties, Ticotea and Koali, and is not 

 important. 



BELMONT GROUP. 



Vines medium to long, 4 to 12 feet, or very short, 1 to 3| feet ; stems slender 

 or thick and coarse, green, hairy, or smooth to nearly smooth ; leaves deeply 



5 to 7 lobed, upper surface of blade hairy to nearly smooth, lower surface 

 smooth or slightly hairy along the veins, green in color ; petiole also green, 

 hairy, or smooth. Roots light salmon, yellow tinged with salmon, russet yel- 

 low, or rose to purple ; veins often prominent and always lighter in color than 

 tbe rest of the surface ; the roots usually fusiform, smooth except for the 

 veins, of average size ; medium to late in season ; flesh white, yellow, light 

 salmon to dark salmon in color, but light yellow, dark yellow, or yellow tinged 

 with salmon when baked, sweet to very sweet, and so moist that sirup can be 

 squeezed out with slight pressure ; flavor somewhat squashlike ; texture soft 

 or at times rather coarse and stringy. 



The Belmont group may be divided into two sections, as follows ■ 



Belmont section : Vines long and creeping. 



Bunch section : Vines very short and bushy. 

 The stems of the varieties of the Belmont section are long and slender, from 



6 to 12 feet in length ; or medium in length, 4 to 8 feet, with internodes 2 to 

 4 inches long. The leaves are rather small, with narrow lobes, except that 

 those of the Eclipse Sugar " yam " 1 and Vineless Pumpkin " yam " are larger, 

 with broad ovoid lobes. 



The following varieties belong to the Belmont section : 



(1) Belmont. (This variety or very slight variations of it is known 



under the names Georgia and Dunton's Improved.) 



(2) Eclipse Sugar "yam." 



(3) Vineless Pumpkin "yam." (PI. IV, figs. 1 and 2.) 



(4) Old Time "yam." 



(5) Yellow " yam." 



(6) White Sealy. 



The stems of the Bunch section are thick and coarse and from 1 to 3£ feet 

 long, with internodes one-third to one-half an inch long, the leaves being 

 greatly crowded in consequence, and it follows that the total leaf surface of a 

 Bunch vine 18 inches long is nearly or quite equal to that of a Belmont vine 11 

 to 12 feet in length. The leaves resemble those of the Eclipse variety in being 

 large, with broad ovoid lobes. 



The following varieties belong to the Bunch section : 



(1) Gros Grandia. 



(2) Bunch Candj r "yam." (Also called Bunch "yam," Vineless, Prolific, 



and Gold Coin. ) (PI. IV, fig. 3.) 



1 The term " yam " used in this key to designate certain varieties of sweet potatoes is 

 used because it is a varietal designation and not because it refers to a yam. The term 

 " yam " when applied to sweet potatoes is a misnomer, as the true yams belong to an 

 entirely different genus, Dioscorea. Yams are grown to a limited extent only in the more 

 southerly portions of the South, principally Florida, and are of little commercial im- 

 portance. 



