6 The Sweet Potato 



also concludes that there is no Sanskrit name for the 

 plant and the Bengalee name of ruktalu (which he says, 

 though being derived from Sanskrit has been mistaken 

 for a pure, derivative of that ancient language) , indicates 

 in modern languages yam and potato. Attempts have 

 been made to connect the word Batatas with oriental 

 languages but with indifferent success. Although the 

 sweet potato appears to have been known in China as 

 early as the second or third century, this fact does not 

 prove an eastern origin. It appears to have been widely 

 distributed by primitive Pacific peoples. 



Probably it is derived, by a long process of do- 

 mestication, from the tropical American Ipomoea fastir 

 giata. This latter plant is described by Cook and 

 Collins (Economic Plants of Porto Kico) as " Bejuco 

 de puerco ; a twining vine found in waste places -j the 

 tuberous roots are called wild potatoes in Jamaica." 



The word yam. is commonly applied to forms of the 

 sweet potato, although it properly belongs only to species 

 of Dioscorea, a very different plant. Various varieties 

 of sweet potato yams are grown in India, Japan, Sum- 

 atra, Java, Philippines, and numerous Pacific Islands. 

 Some of them have pyriform spindles while others 

 assume the form of spherical rhizomes. Several species 

 are also found in countries of South America. The 

 word yam is supposed to have originated in Africa and 

 in several African dialects is said to mean, " to eat." 

 Whether the fondness of the southern n^ro for " Yam 

 Taters " offers any clue to the intricacies of this early 

 history, is not known. But the word is used with such 

 indefinite and variable meaning by people of the United 

 States in referring to the sweet potato, that it had best 



