Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas)
Photo: Llez, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

On the map in 2 countries crop

Sweet potato

Ipomoea batatas

Family: Convolvulaceae

On our map this plant appears in 2 countries and ranks highest in: Papua New Guinea, Peru.

The sweet potato is a trailing perennial of the bindweed family, usually grown as an annual, with heart-shaped or lobed leaves and funnel-shaped purple or white flowers. Its edible parts are its swollen storage roots, with skin and flesh ranging from white and yellow to orange and purple, as well as its young leaves. It comes from tropical America and is one of the world’s most important food plants. It propagates easily from stem cuttings and yields well even on poor soils.

Description from: Papua New Guinea.

More: Wikipedia (en) Wikipedia (pl) Plants of the World Online (Kew)

Significance in each country

  1. Papua New Guinea no. 6 of 10 cultivated

    The sweet potato reached New Guinea only a few hundred years ago, but it made possible a rapid rise in population in the mountain valleys, where it is now the main part of the daily diet.

  2. Peru no. 12 of 15 introduced or naturalised

    Sweet potato remains found at archaeological sites on the Peruvian coast are among the oldest in the Americas.