52 
62. CONVOLYELACE-E. 
aristato-acuminate ; cor. pale p. or purple. — DC. ix. 338: J. A. 
•Selim. FI. Yerd. 232. Coni'. Batatas Linn. Amoen. Acad. vi. 121 ; 
Pers. i. 178. C. Batatas et C\ edulis Spr. Syst. i. 607. Ipomrea 
Batatas Griseb. W. I. FI. 468. — Per. herb. Mad. PS., reg. 1, 2, 
ccc. A universal crop in fields and gardens everywhere about 
towns and villages. FI. here and there at different seasons, but 
chiefly July-Oet. — Two principal van*, or forms may be di- 
stinguished, passing indeed into each other, yet sufficiently or 
even strikinglv distinct in their extreme states, viz. : — 
a. cordifolia Lowe ; Batata de Bemeraiva, B. corriola, B. 
amarella. B. cor d' Anil (synonyms or subvarr.) ; 1. light gr. 
undivided simply cordate or deltoidal and entire, or cordately 
hastately or cuneately 3-5-angular, more or less shortly acumi- 
nate ; tubers thickly oblong, ovoidal, or subglobose mostly red 
or y., flesh y. or or. rarely w. — Convolv. edulis Thunb. FI. Jap. 
84 ; Spr. Syst. i. 607. C. Batatas Linn. Sp. 220 ; Lour. FI. 
Coch. i. 107 ; Ait. H. K. (ed. 2) i. 331. Ipomcca Batatas Poir. 
in Lam. Diet. vi. 14. Conv. Indicus Orientalis Inhame sen 
Battatas See., Moris. Hist. ii. 11, t. 3. §1. f. 4. Sisarum peru- 
vianum sire Batata hispanomm Ger. TIerb. 780. — Introd. about 
1845 ; now cult, everywhere below 2000 ft. in several subvarr. 
distinguished by the Portuguese. 
3- digitata Lowe ; Batata da terra , B. velha , B. a ramo ama - 
rello , or B. branca (syn. or subvarr.) ; 1. dark dull lurid purplish 
or v.-gr., hastato- or cordato-palmatifidlv, or palmatisectly 3- 
5-7-lobed. lobes narrow the middle lobe produced; tubers 
mostly thinly subcvlindric elongate-oblong or fusiform, flesh 
mostly w. and farinaceous, sometimes or. or y. and pulpy when 
boiled or roasted. — Con v. Batatas Spr. 1. c. — This is the old 
Mad. Batata , now almost superseded by the new more produc- 
tive but much inferior Demeraran a, with which it grows often 
intermixed, an odd pi. here and there. 
St. hard stiff* often woody or almost suftrutescent downwards, 
loosely prostrate or decumbent, trailing, neither rooting nor 
twining in Mad., 2 or 3 ft. long, sparingly branched but nu- 
merous and often thickly matted and dark v. or purpurascent. 
Foliage mostly light gr. but often full or even dark gr. Whole 
pi. mostly quite smooth, but st. and petioles frequently more or 
less hairy, sometimes hirsute. L. on long (1-3 in.) petioles, 
smooth somewhat shining, very variable in shape on the same 
pi., palmately nerved or veined, simply cordate and entire, or, 
like ivy-1., repand-angular, or palmatelv lobed, and cordate 
hastate cunente or truncate at the base ; 2-4 in. long, K-3 
broad, sometimes as broad as or broader than long, often purple- 
veined beneath, the veins palmate 5 or 0 on each side the mid- 
rib. FI. pale-p. or rose-purple, the throat and tube inside dark 
