Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Section: Common Name: Scientific Name: Family:
Account for Sweet Potato - Ipomoea batatas   (L.) Lamarck
Members of Convolvulaceae:
Members of Ipomoea with account distribution info or public map:
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Section 6 » Order Solanales » Family Convolvulaceae
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Author(L.) Lamarck
DistributionThe only specimen at SERNEC is from a university greenhouse. RAB (1968) cite a record from Duplin County of "a rare escape from cultivation."

Native to the Neotropics; in N.A. NY and KY south to FL and TX.
AbundanceVery rare.
HabitatPresumably a fallow cropfield, or nearby.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting -- no NC data.
IdentificationThe cultivated Sweet Potato is known primarily by its thick underground tubers, much smaller and narrower than those of the Potato (Solanum tuberosum). The leaves are cordate, sometimes with large basal lobes; the flowers are pale pink with dark red centers, but are sometimes wholly white. I. cordatotriloba may appear very similar, but its sepals are all the same length (vs. unequal) and the leaves are only 1-2 inches wide (vs. 4-6 inches wide in I. batatas).
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Other Common Name(s)
State RankSE
Global RankG5
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