Louisiana State Vegetable

Sweet Potato

(Ipomoea batatas)

Adopted in 2003

The sweet potato plant is a vine that trails along the ground. The flowers look like morning glories, which are in the same family as sweet potatoes.

Sweet potato, Ipomoea batatas, is a tender, warm-weather vegetable that requires a long frost-free growing season to mature large, useful roots. Sweet potato is native to Central and South America. It is one of the most important food crops in tropical and subtropical countries, where both the roots and tender shoots are eaten as a vital source of nutrients. Commercial production in the United States is mainly in the southern states, particularly North Carolina and Louisiana.

Sweet potatoes, which are related to the morning glory, grow on trailing vines that quickly cover the soil, rooting at the nodes along the way. "Bush" varieties with shorter vines are available for situations where space may be limited.

Though orange-fleshed varieties are most common today, white or very light yellow-fleshed types were once considered the finest types for sophisticated people. Some white-fleshed types are still available, though they may be hard to find outside the Deep South.

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