Origin and Description of the Sweet Potato 3 



carried sweet potatoes to Queen Isabella among his 

 other collections from the Xew World. The sweet po- 

 tato is not mentioned among the agricultural products 

 of the anciently famous valleys of the Tigris and the 

 Euphrates rivers. It is hardly possible to suppose, had 

 it been indigenous to the Old World, that the plant 

 would not have been grown in these regions when its 

 characteristically hardy reproduction and ease of trans- 

 portation are considered. Furthermore, philologists 

 have found no definite Sanskrit name for the plant and 

 although cultivated in India at the present time few 

 kinds are known there and those that are cultivated 

 seem to differ somewhat from the plant as known by us. 

 The plant was not cultivated by the Arabs, Bomana or 

 Turks even a century aga 



DESCEIPTION 



The sweet potato plant is a perennial, although com- 

 monly grown as an annuaL It is a trailing vine of the 

 morning-glory family which strikes root freely at the 

 joints, bearing leaves that vary greatly in shape accord- 

 ing to the variety. ^ This characteristic variation in leaf 

 shape furnishes an important means for the classifica- 

 tion of varieties. Although in general contour re- 

 sembling those of the common morning-glory, the 

 leaves are of three types, entire and not lobed, shoul- 

 dered and lobed, and deeply cut and lobed. The 

 length of the vine varies greatly, some varieties produc- 

 ing very long luxuriant stems while others have a 

 decided bushy or "vineless" habit of growth. Var- 

 ietal influences also cause considerable variation in 

 color tint of vines, leaf-stems and in structure of the 



