sweet potato

sweet potato
1. a plant, Ipomoea batatas, of the morning glory family, grown for its sweet, edible, tuberous roots.
2. the root itself, used as a vegetable.
3. Informal. ocarina.
[1740-50, Amer.]

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Food plant (Ipomoea batatas; family Convolvulaceae) native to tropical America and widely cultivated in tropical and warm temperate climates.

Botanically unrelated to the white, or Irish, potato or the yam, sweet potatoes are oblong or pointed oval, tuberous roots. Skin colour ranges from light buff to brown to purplish red; the pulp may be white (highest in starch) to orange (also high in carotene) to purple. Long, trailing plant stems bear funnel-shaped flowers tinged with pink or rose violet. Sweet potatoes are served baked or mashed and used as pie filling.

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plant
 (Ipomoea batatas), food plant of the morning glory family (Convolvulaceae), native to tropical America and widely cultivated in tropical and the warmer temperate climates. The sweet potato must not be confused with the common, white, or Irish potato (see potato; genus Solanum, family Solanaceae) or with the yam (q.v.; genus Dioscorea, family Dioscoreaceae), to which it is botanically unrelated. Sweet potato stems are usually long and trailing and bear lobed or unlobed leaves that vary in shape. The flowers, borne in clusters in the axils of the leaves, are funnel shaped and tinged with pink or rose violet. The edible part is the much-enlarged tuberous root, varying in shape from fusiform to oblong or pointed oval. Root colours range from white to orange, and occasionally purple inside, and from light buff to brown or rose and purplish red outside. The pulp consists largely of starch, and orange-fleshed varieties are high in carotene. Sweet potatoes are served as a cooked vegetable, in whole or mashed form, and are used as pie filling.

      The sweet potato is now widely grown chiefly in the southern United States, in tropical America, the warmer islands of the Pacific, Japan, and Russia. Propagated vegetatively by sprouts arising from the roots or by cuttings of the vines, it is best adapted to light, friable soils such as sandy loams. At least four to five months of warm weather are required for large yields. In Japan the crop has long been grown for drying and for manufacture of starch and alcohol.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Sweet potato — Potato Po*ta to, n.; pl. {Potatoes}. [Sp. patata potato, batata sweet potato, from the native American name (probably batata) in Hayti.] (Bot.) (a) A plant ({Solanum tuberosum}) of the Nightshade family, and its esculent farinaceous tuber, of… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Sweet potato — Sweet Sweet, a. [Compar. {Sweeter}; superl. {Sweetest}.] [OE. swete, swote, sote, AS. sw[=e]te; akin to OFries. sw[=e]te, OS. sw[=o]ti, D. zoet, G. s[ u]ss, OHG. suozi, Icel. s[ae]tr, s[oe]tr, Sw. s[ o]t, Dan. s[ o]d, Goth. suts, L. suavis, for… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • sweet potato — ► NOUN ▪ the edible tuber of a tropical climbing plant, with pinkish orange slightly sweet flesh …   English terms dictionary

  • sweet potato — ☆ sweet potato n. 1. a tropical, trailing plant (Ipomoea batatas) of the morning glory family, with purplish flowers and a fleshy, brownish, tuberlike root used as a vegetable 2. its root 3. Informal OCARINA …   English World dictionary

  • Sweet potato — Camote redirects here. For the island group in the Philippines, see Camotes Islands. Sweet Potato Sweet potato in flower Hemingway, South Carolina Scientific classification …   Wikipedia

  • sweet potato —    Uala (for various kinds, see Haw. Eng. entry and entries that follow it).     Sweet potato vine or slip, lau.     Planted sweet potato vine, lau kanu.     Collected sweet potato vines, puku kālina.     Sweet potato sprouts, hāpu upu u, hā upu… …   English-Hawaiian dictionary

  • sweet potato — noun 1. the edible tuberous root of the sweet potato vine which is grown widely in warm regions of the United States • Hypernyms: ↑root vegetable • Hyponyms: ↑yam • Part Holonyms: ↑sweet potato vine, ↑Ipomoea batatas 2. egg sha …   Useful english dictionary

  • sweet potato — UK / US noun [countable] Word forms sweet potato : singular sweet potato plural sweet potatoes a vegetable with a slightly sweet taste that looks like a potato with pink skin …   English dictionary

  • sweet potato — batatinė dioskorėja statusas T sritis vardynas apibrėžtis Dioskorėjinių šeimos daržovinis, dekoratyvinis, krakmolinis, maistinis, vaistinis augalas (Dioscorea polystachya), paplitęs rytų Azijoje. atitikmenys: lot. Dioscorea batatas; Dioscorea… …   Lithuanian dictionary (lietuvių žodynas)

  • Sweet potato — Süßkartoffel Süßkartoffel (Ipomoea batatas), Blüte und Laubblätter. Systematik Klasse: Dreifurchenpollen Z …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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