Volume 10 > Part 3 > Year 2010 > Page 410 > Convolvulaceae > Ipomoea

6. Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.wfo-0001297246

Tab. Encycl. Meth. Bot. 1: 465. 1791; Gagnep. & Courchet in Lecomte, Fl. Indo-Chine 4: 240. 1915; Ooststr., Blumea 3: 512. 1940; Fl: Males. ser. 1, 4: 469. 1953; Kerr, Fl. Siam. Enum. 3(2): 11. 1954; R.C.Fang & Staples in C.Y.Wu & P.H.Raven, Fl. China 16: 306. 1995.— Convolvulus batatas L., Sp. Pl. 154. 1753.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Annual herb, with enlarged subterranean tubers, axial parts glabrous or pilose; stems prostrate or ascending, rarely twining, rooting at nodes. Leaves broadly ovate to circular, 4–13 by 3–13 cm, margin entire or palmately 3–5(–7)-lobed, herbaceous, lobes broadly ovate to linear lanceolate, sparsely pilose or glabrous; petiole 2.5–20 cm. Inflorescences 1- or 3–7-flowered; peduncle 2–10.5 cm, stout, angular; bracts early deciduous, lanceolate, 2–4 mm; pedicel 0.2–1 cm. Flower: sepals oblong or elliptic, more or less unequal, outside glabrous or pilose, margin ciliate, apex acute, mucronulate, 2 outer 7–10 mm, inner sepals 8–11 mm; corolla campanulate to funnelform, 3–4.5 cm, pink, white, pale purple to purple, with darker centre, glabrous; stamens included; pistil included, ovary pubescent or glabrous. Capsule rarely produced, ovoid or depressed globose. Seeds glabrous.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Chiang Mai; SOUTH-EASTERN: Chachoengsao; PENINSULAR: Ranong, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Trang.

Distribution : Throughout Asia as a cultivated plant, a cultigen that originated in S America.

Ecology : Grown in home gardens and agricultural fields, sometimes persisting from cultivation, 5 m and up. Flowering: January, December.

Vernacular : Tae-lo (แตลอ)(Malay-Narathiwat); man khaeo (มันเกว)(Northern); man thet (มันเทศ)(Central); mak-oi (หมักอ้อย)(Lawa-Chiang Mai); man (มัน)(Chiang Mai ex Staples 418); man thet (มันเทศ)(Hmong?, Chiang Mai ex Staples 407).

Notes: More widespread as a cultivated plant than the few herbarium specimens would indicate. An extensive cultivar nomenclature exists to accommodate the numerous shapes, colours, and sizes of storage organs. Plants may persist for several years after cultivation ceases. Several cultivars with coloured foliage are now sold as ornamentals in the nursery trade.