Bataatti – Ipomoea batatas

The ellipsoid, fusiform, or elongated subterranean tubers have a smooth skin with color ranging between yellow, orange, red, brown, purple, and beige. The stems are creeping slender vines, up to 4 m long, much branched, rooting at nodes, with milky sap. Leaves are alternate, with petioles 2.5-20 cm. Leaf blade is broadly ovate, heart-shaped or palmately lobed, 4-13 x 3-13 cm, palmately veined, green or purplish in colour. Flowers are axillary, solitary or in cymes on 2-10 cm long peduncles. Sepals are oblongor elliptic, ± unequal, glabrous or pilose abaxially, margin ciliate, apexacute, mucronulate, outer 2 sepals 7-10 mm, inner 3 sepals 8-11 mm. Corolla is pink, white, pale purple to purple, with a darker center, campanulate to funnelform,3-4 cm, glabrous. Stamens and pistil are entirely within the corolla tube. Fruits (capsules) are rarely produced, ovoid or depressed globose. Seeds are 1-4 per capsule, flattened, hard-coated, angular.