Stats

Lifespan: Perennial
Size: Medium
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Tropical grassland
Range: Central America
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Runners
Defense: Toxins
Status: Uncommon

About

The sweet potato is a starchy root vegetable with heart-shaped leaves and trailing vines that can spread several feet across the ground. Remarkably, it is not related to the potato — it belongs to the morning glory family and its tuberous roots come in flesh colors ranging from white to deep orange and purple.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Solanales
Family: Convolvulaceae
Genus: Ipomoea
Species: Ipomoea batatas