Home > Plants > Convolvulaceae > Ipomoea batatas

Updated 10/7/2012

Family Convolvulaceae

HAWAII - POLYNESIAN INTRODUCTION

Ipomoea batatas

UH Manoa Campus, Oahu

 

Waimanalo, Oahu

SWEET POTATO VINE        'UALA

Native vine from South America widely cultivated in warm regions worldwide.  Leaves heart-shaped or deeply 5-lobed.  Sweet tuberous roots are an important food & feed crop, young leaves also eaten.  First introduced to Hawaii by Polynesian settlers and grown in hillside terraces. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_potato