Editing Sweet potato (section)

==Cultivation==
{{See also|Sweet potato storage}}

===Dispersal history===
{{further|Sweet potato cultivation in Polynesia}}
[[File:Leiden University Library - Seikei Zusetsu vol. 20, page 014 - 度奴久和宇藷 - Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam. - 赤藷, 白藷 - idem., 1804.jpg|thumb|left|[[Seikei Zusetsu]] (~1800)]]

Before the arrival of Europeans to the Americas, sweet potato was grown in [[Polynesia]], generally spread by vine cuttings rather than by seeds.<ref>{{cite web |title=Batatas, Not Potatoes |url=http://www.botgard.ucla.edu/html/botanytextbooks/economicbotany/Ipomoea/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080519142258/http://www.botgard.ucla.edu/html/botanytextbooks/economicbotany/Ipomoea/index.html |archive-date=19 May 2008 |access-date=12 September 2010 |publisher=Botgard.ucla.edu}}</ref> Sweet potato has been [[Radiocarbon dating|radiocarbon-dated]] in the [[Cook Islands]] to 1210–1400 CE.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wilmshurst |first1=Janet M. |last2=Hunt |first2=Terry L. |last3=Lipo |first3=Carl P. |last4=Anderson |first4=Atholl J. |author4-link=Atholl Anderson |date=27 December 2010 |title=High-precision radiocarbon dating shows recent and rapid initial human colonization of East Polynesia |url= |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=108 |issue=5 |pages=1815–1820 |bibcode=2011PNAS..108.1815W |doi=10.1073/pnas.1015876108 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=3033267 |pmid=21187404 |quote=For example, the earliest presence of sweet potato (''Ipomoea batatas'') in Mangaia, Cook Islands, dated to A.D. 1210–1400 and was regarded as a late occurrence |doi-access=free}}</ref> A common hypothesis is that a vine cutting was [[Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact theories#Claims involving sweet potato|brought]] to central Polynesia by [[Polynesians]] who had traveled to South America and back, and spread from there across Polynesia to Easter Island, Hawaii and New Zealand.<ref>{{cite book |last=van Tilburg |first=Jo Anne |title=Easter Island: Archaeology, ecology, and culture |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press |year=1994 |location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Bassett, Gordon |display-authors=etal |title=Gardening at the Edge: Documenting the limits of tropical Polynesian kumara horticulture in southern New Zealand |url=http://www.geol.canterbury.ac.nz/people/kari/2004%20Bassett,%20Gordon,%20et%20al.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724015520/http://www.geol.canterbury.ac.nz/people/kari/2004%20Bassett,%20Gordon,%20et%20al.pdf |archive-date=24 July 2011 |publisher=University of Canterbury |location=New Zealand}}</ref> Genetic similarities have been found between Polynesian peoples and indigenous Americans including the [[Zenú]], a people inhabiting the Pacific coast of present-day [[Colombia]], indicating that Polynesians could have visited South America and taken sweet potatoes prior to European contact.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Lizzie Wade |date=8 July 2020 |title=Polynesians steering by the stars met Native Americans long before Europeans arrived |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/polynesians-steering-stars-met-native-americans-long-europeans-arrived |journal=Science |doi=10.1126/science.abd7159 |s2cid=225642378 |access-date=30 June 2022 |archive-date=17 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200717034835/https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/07/polynesians-steering-stars-met-native-americans-long-europeans-arrived |url-status=live }}</ref> Dutch linguists and specialists in [[Indigenous languages of the Americas|Amerindian languages]] [[Willem Adelaar]] and Pieter Muysken have suggested that the word for sweet potato is shared by Polynesian languages and languages of South America: [[Proto-Polynesian language|Proto-Polynesian]] *{{lang|mis|kumala}}<ref name="POLLEX-kumala">{{cite web |last1=Greenhill |first1=Simon J. |last2=Clark |first2=Ross |last3=Biggs |first3=Bruce |year=2010 |title=Entries for KUMALA.1 [LO] Sweet Potato (''Ipomoea'') |url=http://pollex.org.nz/entry/kumala1/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208114223/http://pollex.org.nz/entry/kumala1/ |archive-date=8 February 2013 |access-date=16 July 2013 |work=POLLEX-Online: The Polynesian Lexicon Project Online}}</ref> (compare [[Rapa Nui language|Rapa Nui]] {{lang|rap|kumara}}, [[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]] {{lang|haw|{{okina}}uala}},<!--this is correct. an [m] was not dropped.--> [[Māori language|Māori]] {{lang|mi|kūmara}}) may be connected with [[Quechua language|Quechua]] and [[Aymara language|Aymara]] {{lang|qu|k'umar}} ~ {{lang|ay|k'umara}}. Adelaar and Muysken assert that the similarity in the word for sweet potato is proof of either incidental contact or sporadic contact between the Central [[Andes]] and Polynesia.<ref name="Adelaar2004">{{cite book |last1=Adelaar |first1=Willem F. H. |title=The Languages of the Andes |last2=Muysekn |first2=Pieter C. |date=10 June 2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-45112-3 |page=41 |chapter=Genetic relations of South American Indian languages |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UiwaUY6KsY8C&pg=PA41}}</ref>

Some researchers, citing divergence time estimates, suggest that sweet potatoes might have been present in Polynesia thousands of years before humans arrived there.<ref>{{cite news |date=12 April 2018 |title=Sweet potato history casts doubt on early contact between Polynesia and the Americas |publisher=EurekaAlert! Cell Press |url=https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-04/cp-sph040518.php |access-date=23 September 2018 |archive-date=23 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923123941/https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-04/cp-sph040518.php |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Muñoz-RodríguezCarruthers2018">{{cite journal |last1=Muñoz-Rodríguez |first1=Pablo |last2=Carruthers |first2=Tom |last3=Wood |first3=John R.I. |last4=Williams |first4=Bethany R.M. |last5=Weitemier |first5=Kevin |last6=Kronmiller |first6=Brent |last7=Ellis |first7=David |last8=Anglin |first8=Noelle L. |last9=Longway |first9=Lucas |last10=Harris |first10=Stephen A. |last11=Rausher |first11=Mark D. |last12=Kelly |first12=Steven |last13=Liston |first13=Aaron |last14=Scotland |first14=Robert W. |year=2018 |title=Reconciling conflicting phylogenies in the origin of sweet potato and dispersal to Polynesia |journal=Current Biology |volume=28 |issue=8 |pages=1246–1256.e12 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2018.03.020 |issn=0960-9822 |pmid=29657119 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2018CBio...28E1246M }}</ref> However, the present scholarly consensus favours the pre-Columbian contact model.<ref name="plos">{{cite journal |last1=Barber |first1=Ian |last2=Higham |first2=Thomas F. G. |date=14 April 2021 |title=Archaeological science meets Māori knowledge to model pre-Columbian sweet potato (''Ipomoea batatas'') dispersal to Polynesia's southernmost habitable margins |journal=[[PLOS One]] |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=e0247643 |bibcode=2021PLoSO..1647643B |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0247643 |pmc=8046222 |pmid=33852587 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Matisoo-Smith |first1=Lisa |date=13 April 2018 |title=When did sweet potatoes arrive in the Pacific – Expert Reaction |url=https://www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2018/04/13/when-did-sweet-potatoes-arrive-in-the-pacific-expert-reaction/ |access-date=30 March 2019 |website=www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz |publisher=Science Media Centre |quote=We would like to see more robust data, ideally from multiple sources, presented before we can accept the data and reconsider the current interpretation that the sweet potato was brought to Polynesia by humans at some point around 1000–1200 AD. |archive-date=29 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329223537/https://www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2018/04/13/when-did-sweet-potatoes-arrive-in-the-pacific-expert-reaction/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The sweet potato arrived in Europe with the [[Columbian exchange]]. It is recorded, for example, in ''[[Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book]]'', compiled in England in 1604.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fettiplace |first1=Elinor |title=Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book: Elizabethan Country House Cooking |date=1986 |publisher=Viking |editor1-last=Spurling |editor1-first=Hilary |editor1-link=Hilary Spurling |orig-year=1604}}</ref><ref name="CDW149">Dickson Wright, 2011. Pages 149–169</ref>

Sweet potatoes were first introduced to the [[Philippines]] during the [[History of the Philippines (1521–1898)|Spanish colonial period]] (1521–1898) via the [[Manila galleons]], along with other [[New World crops]].<ref name="gad">{{cite book |last1=Loebenstein |first1=Gad |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226217377 |title=The Sweetpotato |publisher=Springer |year=2009 |isbn=9781402094743 |editor1-last=Loebenstein |editor1-first=Gad |chapter=Origin, Distribution and Economic Importance |editor2-last=Thottappilly |editor2-first=George |access-date=18 May 2019 |archive-date=24 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324172320/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226217377_Origin_Distribution_and_Economic_Importance |url-status=live }}</ref> It was introduced to the [[Fujian]] of China in about 1594 from [[Luzon]], in response to a major crop failure. The growing of sweet potatoes was encouraged by the Governor Chin Hsüeh-tseng (Jin Xuezeng).<ref>{{cite book |last=Spence |first=Jonathan D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M7LAH8ggQvAC&pg=PA167 |title=Chinese Roundabout: Essays in History and Culture |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=1993 |isbn=978-0393309942 |edition=illustrated, reprint, revised |page=167 |access-date=28 November 2015 |archive-date=24 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324172323/https://books.google.com/books?id=M7LAH8ggQvAC&pg=PA167#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

Sweet potatoes were also introduced to the [[Ryukyu Kingdom]], present-day [[Okinawa Prefecture|Okinawa]], Japan, in the early 1600s by the [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]].<ref name="Japan&Dutch">{{cite book |author=Goodman, Grant K. |title=Japan and the Dutch 1600–1853 |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=9781315028064 |location=London |pages=66–67 |doi=10.4324/9781315028064}}</ref><ref name="FirstGlobalization">{{cite journal |author=Gunn, Geoffrey C. |year=2003 |title=First Globalization: The Eurasian Exchange, 1500-1800 |journal=The Sixteenth Century Journal |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=932–933 |doi=10.2307/20477565 |jstor=20477565}}</ref><ref name="ObrienSweetPotato">{{cite journal |author=Obrien, Patricia J. |year=1972 |title=The sweet potato: Its origin and dispersal |journal=American Anthropologist |volume=74 |issue=3 |pages=342–365 |doi=10.1525/aa.1972.74.3.02a00070 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Sweet potatoes became a staple in Japan because they were important in preventing famine when rice harvests were poor.<ref name="ObrienSweetPotato" /><ref>{{cite news |author=Itoh, Makiko |date=22 April 2017 |title=The storied history of the potato in Japanese cooking |newspaper=The Japan Times |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2017/04/22/food/storied-history-potato-japanese-cooking/#.WsaQ6ojwaUk |access-date=5 April 2018 |archive-date=27 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727024534/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2017/04/22/food/storied-history-potato-japanese-cooking/#.WsaQ6ojwaUk |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Aoki Konyō]] helped popularize the cultivation of the sweet potato in Japan, and the [[Tokugawa shogunate|Tokugawa bakufu]] sponsored, published, and disseminated a vernacular Japanese translation of his research monograph on sweet potatoes to encourage their growth more broadly.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ro |first=Sang-ho |title=Neo-Confucianism and Science in Korea: Humanity and Nature, 1706–1814 |publisher=Routledge |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-367-44100-5 |location=Oxon |pages=58 |language=English}}</ref> Sweet potatoes were planted in Shōgun [[Tokugawa Yoshimune]]'s private garden.<ref>{{cite book |author=Takekoshi, Yosaburō |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZoV8ti9RZBgC&pg=PA352 |title=Economic Aspects of the History of the Civilization of Japan |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=1930 |isbn=9780415323802 |page=352 |access-date=28 November 2015 |archive-date=24 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324172204/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZoV8ti9RZBgC&pg=PA352#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> It was first introduced to [[Korea]] in 1764.<ref>{{cite book |author=Kim, Jinwung |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QFPsi3IK8gcC&pg=PA255 |title=A History of Korea: From 'Land of the Morning Calm' to states in conflict |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0253000781 |page=255 |access-date=28 November 2015 |archive-date=24 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324172259/https://books.google.com/books?id=QFPsi3IK8gcC&pg=PA255#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> Kang P'il-ri and Yi Kwang-ryŏ embarked on a project to grow sweet potatoes in [[Seoul]] in 1766, using the knowledge of Japanese cultivators they learned in [[Dongnae District|Tongnae]] starting in 1764. The project succeeded for a year but ultimately failed in winter 1767 after Kang's unexpected death.<ref>Ro (2021), 59.</ref>

=== Names ===
{{See also|List of sweet potato cultivars}}
Although the soft, orange sweet potato is often called a "[[wikt:yam|yam]]" in parts of North America, the sweet potato is very distinct from the botanical [[yam (vegetable)|yam]] (''Dioscorea''), which has a cosmopolitan distribution,<ref name="POWO_328349-2">{{cite web |title=''Dioscorea'' |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:328349-2 |access-date=13 October 2019 |work=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |archive-date=10 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810160204/http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:328349-2 |url-status=live }}</ref> and belongs to the [[monocot]] family [[Dioscoreaceae]]. A different crop plant, the ''oca'' (''[[Oxalis tuberosa]]'', a species of wood sorrel), is called a "yam" in many parts of the world.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Oca |url=https://cipotato.org/genebankcip/genebankcip/process/oca/ |access-date=30 April 2021 |website=[[International Potato Center]] (CIP) Genebank |language=en-US |archive-date=24 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324172318/https://cipotato.org/genebankcip/process/oca/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Although the sweet potato is not closely related botanically to the common potato, they have a shared etymology. The first Europeans to taste sweet potatoes were members of [[Christopher Columbus]]'s expedition in 1492. Later explorers found many cultivars under an assortment of local names, but the name which stayed was the indigenous [[Taíno people|Taíno]] name of ''[[wikt:batata|batata]]''. The Spanish combined this with the [[Quechua languages|Quechua]] word for potato, {{Lang|qu|papa}}, to create the word {{Lang|es|patata}} for the common potato.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Herrero |first=María Antonieta Andión |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wwI4nMg5r70C&pg=PA78 |title=Los indigenismos en la Historia de las Indias de Bartolomé de las Casas |date=2004 |publisher=Editorial CSIC – [[CSIC Press]] |isbn=978-84-00-08266-6 |location= |pages=78 |language=es |access-date=2 February 2021 |archive-date=24 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324172324/https://books.google.com/books?id=wwI4nMg5r70C&pg=PA78#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

Though the sweet potato is also called {{Lang|he-latn|batata}} ({{lang|he|{{Script|Hebrew|בטטה}}|rtl=yes}}) in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], this is not a direct loan of the Taíno word. Rather, the Spanish {{lang|es|patata}} was loaned into [[Arabic]] as {{lang|ar-latn|batata}} ({{lang|ar|{{Script|Arabic|بطاطا}}|rtl=yes}}), owing to the lack of a {{ipa|/p/}} sound in Arabic, while the sweet potato was called {{lang|ar-latn|batata ḥilwa}} ({{lang|ar|{{Script|Arabic|بطاطا حلوة}}|rtl=yes}}); literally ('sweet potato'). The Arabic {{lang|ar-latn|batata}} was loaned into Hebrew as designating the sweet potato only, as Hebrew had its own word for the common potato, {{lang|he|{{Script|Hebrew|תפוח אדמה}}|rtl=yes}} ({{lang|he-latn|tapuakh adama}}, literally 'earth apple'; compare French ''[[wikt:pomme de terre|pomme de terre]]'').

Some organizations and researchers advocate for the styling of the name as one word—''sweetpotato''—instead of two, to emphasize the plant's genetic uniqueness from both common potatoes and yams and to avoid confusion of it being classified as a type of common potato.<ref>{{cite web |date=12 November 2014 |title=Sweetpotato: One Word or Two? |url=https://cipotato.org/research/sweet-potato/sweetpotato-one-word-or-two/ |access-date=29 December 2019 |publisher=[[International Potato Center]] (CIP) |archive-date=28 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228015852/https://cipotato.org/research/sweet-potato/sweetpotato-one-word-or-two/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Averre |first1=Charles W. |last2=Wilson |first2=L. George |title=Sweetpotato — Why one word? |url=https://projects.ncsu.edu/cals/plantpath/extension/commodities/sweetpotato-one-word.html |access-date=29 December 2019 |website=NCSU Plant Pathology |publisher=[[North Carolina State University]] Department of Plant Pathology |archive-date=30 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230002128/https://projects.ncsu.edu/cals/plantpath/extension/commodities/sweetpotato-one-word.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Wu-4sqzOD8C |title=The Sweetpotato |date=2009 |publisher=[[Springer Science & Business Media]] |isbn=9781402094750 |editor-last=Loebenstein |editor-first=Gad |page=298 |editor-last2=Thottappilly |editor-first2=George |access-date=30 December 2019 |archive-date=24 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324172319/https://books.google.com/books?id=5Wu-4sqzOD8C |url-status=live }}</ref> In its current usage in [[American English]], the styling of the name as two words is still preferred.<ref>{{citation |title=What is a Sweetpotato? |date=October 2010 |url=https://vric.ucdavis.edu/pdf/SWEETPOTATO/What_is_a_sweetpotato.pdf |website=UC Vegetable Research & Information Center |page=2 |access-date=29 December 2019 |publisher=Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, [[University of California]] |archive-date=27 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927122350/https://vric.ucdavis.edu/pdf/SWEETPOTATO/What_is_a_sweetpotato.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

In [[Argentina]], [[Colombia]], [[Venezuela]], [[Puerto Rico]],  and the [[Dominican Republic]], the sweet potato is called {{lang|es|batata}}. In Brazil, the sweet potato is called {{lang|pt|batata doce}}. In Mexico, [[Bolivia]], [[Peru]], Chile, Central America, and the [[Philippines]], the sweet potato is known as {{lang|es|camote}} (alternatively spelled {{lang|fil|kamote}} in the Philippines), derived from the [[Nahuatl]] word {{lang|nah|camotli}}.<ref>[https://dle.rae.es/camote El Diccionario de la lengua española, Real Academia Española]</ref><ref name="kamotenahuatl">{{cite news |title=Nahuatl influences in Tagalog |newspaper=[[El Galéon de Acapulco News]] |publisher=Embajada de México, Filipinas |url=http://elgaleon.weebly.com/page-18.html |url-status=dead |access-date=16 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130427213956/http://elgaleon.weebly.com/page-18.html |archive-date=27 April 2013}}</ref>
In Peru and [[Bolivia]], the general word in Quechua for the sweet potato is {{lang|qu|apichu}}, but there are variants used such as {{lang|quy|khumara}}, {{lang|quy|kumar}} ([[Ayacucho Quechua]]), and {{lang|quh|kumara}} (Bolivian Quechua),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Diccionario Quechua Simi Taqe AMLQ |date= |title=Quechua: apichu |url=https://www.runa-simi.org/simitaqe/id-327-apichu.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221093622/https://www.runa-simi.org/simitaqe/id-327-apichu.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 February 2022 |access-date=2 February 2021 |website=www.runa-simi.org |language=Spanish }}</ref> strikingly similar to the Polynesian name {{Lang|mis|kumara}} and its regional Oceanic cognates ({{lang|to|kumala}}, {{lang|sm|umala}}, {{lang|haw|ʻuala}}, etc.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ipomoea batatas |url=http://www.hear.org/pier/species/ipomoea_batatas.htm |access-date=2023-07-01 |website=Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk: Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk |archive-date=1 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701075629/http://www.hear.org/pier/species/ipomoea_batatas.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>), which has led some scholars to suspect an instance of [[Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact#Words related to axes|pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Doucleff |first=Michaeleen |date=23 January 2013 |title=How The Sweet Potato Crossed The Pacific Way Before The Europeans Did |language=en |work=[[NPR]] |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/01/22/169980441/how-the-sweet-potato-crossed-the-pacific-before-columbus |access-date=15 October 2021 |archive-date=15 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211015120513/https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/01/22/169980441/how-the-sweet-potato-crossed-the-pacific-before-columbus |url-status=live }}</ref> This theory is also supported by genetic evidence.<ref>{{cite web |last=Timmer |first=John |date=21 January 2013 |title=Polynesians reached South America, picked up sweet potatoes, went home |url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2013/01/polynesians-reached-south-america-picked-up-sweet-potatoes-went-home |access-date=8 July 2020 |website=[[Ars Technica]] |archive-date=8 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200708155215/https://arstechnica.com/science/2013/01/polynesians-reached-south-america-picked-up-sweet-potatoes-went-home/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{anchor|Beauregard}}In Australia, about 90% of production is devoted to the orange cultivar 'Beauregard',<ref name="researchgate/281529159">{{cite journal |last1=Rolston |first1=L. H. |last2=Clark |first2=C. A. |last3=Cannon |first3=J. M. |last4=Randle |first4=W. M. |last5=Riley |first5=E. G. |last6=Wilson |first6=P. W. |last7=Robbins |first7=M. L. |date=December 1987 |title=Beauregard' Sweet Potato |url=https://journals.ashs.org/hortsci/downloadpdf/journals/hortsci/22/6/article-p1338.xml |journal=HortScience |volume=22 |issue=6 |pages=1338–1339 |doi=10.21273/HORTSCI.22.6.1338 |s2cid=89381179 |access-date=13 September 2023 |archive-date=24 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324172741/https://journals.ashs.org/downloadpdf/view/journals/hortsci/22/6/article-p1338.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> which was originally<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mafes.msstate.edu/publications/bulletins/b1221.pdf |last1=Main |first1=Jeffrey L. |last2=Silva |first2=Juan |last3=Arancibia |first3=Ramon |date=May 2016 |title=Mississippi Sweetpotato Variety Trial, 2013 |publisher=Mississippi Agricultural & Forestry Experiment Station |access-date=29 December 2023 |archive-date=11 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231011052244/https://www.mafes.msstate.edu/publications/bulletins/b1221.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=9 November 2022 |title=State of Success: Louisiana |url=http://www.nifa.usda.gov/about-nifa/blogs/state-success-louisiana |access-date=13 September 2023 |website=nifa.usda.gov National Institute of Food and Agriculture |archive-date=6 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230906214935/https://www.nifa.usda.gov/about-nifa/blogs/state-success-louisiana |url-status=live }}</ref> developed by the [[Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station]] in 1981.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Dominic Jolimont |author2=Margaret Jolimont |title=Sweet potato |url=http://slater.ncg.org.au/sweet-potato/ |access-date=10 July 2019 |website=Slater Community Gardens |archive-date=10 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710122359/http://slater.ncg.org.au/sweet-potato/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In New Zealand, the [[Māori culture|Māori]] varieties bore elongated tubers with white skin and a whitish flesh,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yen |first=D. E. |date=1963 |title=The New Zealand Kumara or Sweet Potato |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4252401 |journal=[[Economic Botany]] |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=31–45 |doi=10.1007/BF02985351 |issn=0013-0001 |jstor=4252401 |bibcode=1963EcBot..17...31Y |s2cid=32823869 |access-date=17 October 2020 |archive-date=20 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020151953/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4252401 |url-status=live }}</ref> which points to pre-European cross-Pacific travel.<ref>{{cite web |last=Field |first=Michael |date=23 January 2013 |title=Kumara origin points to pan-Pacific voyage |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/editors-picks/8213421/Kumara-origin-points-to-pan-Pacific-voyage |access-date=10 July 2019 |website=[[stuff.co.nz]] |archive-date=10 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710122356/http://www.stuff.co.nz/editors-picks/8213421/Kumara-origin-points-to-pan-Pacific-voyage |url-status=live }}</ref> Known as ''kumara'' (from the [[Māori language]] {{lang|mi|kūmara}}), the most common cultivar now is the red 'Owairaka', but orange ('Beauregard'), gold, purple and other cultivars are also grown.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Yen |first=D. E. |year=1963 |title=The New Zealand Kumara or Sweet Potato |journal=[[Economic Botany]] |volume=17 |pages=31–45 |doi=10.1007/bf02985351 |jstor=4252401 |s2cid=32823869 |number=1|bibcode=1963EcBot..17...31Y }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Types of kumara grown in New Zealand |url=http://www.kumara.co.nz/types-of-kumara.html |website=Kaipara Kumara |access-date=10 July 2019 |archive-date=10 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710122354/http://www.kumara.co.nz/types-of-kumara.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Habitat ===
The plant does not tolerate [[frost]]. It grows best at an average temperature of {{cvt|24|°C|°F|0}}, with abundant sunshine and warm nights. Annual rainfalls of {{cvt|750|-|1000|mm|in|0}} are considered most suitable, with a minimum of {{cvt|500|mm|in|0}} in the growing season. The crop is sensitive to drought at the tuber initiation stage 50–60 days after planting, and it is not tolerant to waterlogging, which may cause tuber rots and reduce the growth of storage roots if aeration is poor.<ref name="Ahn1993">{{cite book |last=Ahn |first=Peter |year=1993 |title=Tropical soils and fertilizer use |series=Intermediate Tropical Agriculture Series |publisher=Longman Scientific and Technical Ltd. |location=UK |isbn=978-0-582-77507-7}}{{page needed|date=April 2015}}</ref>

[[File:Sweet potato sprouting slips.jpg|thumb|Sweet potato sprouting "slips"]] [[File:Sweetpotato harvest in Nash County, North Carolina.jpg|thumb|Sweet potato harvest in [[Nash County, North Carolina]], United States]]
Depending on the cultivar and conditions, tuberous roots mature in two to nine months. With care, early-maturing cultivars can be grown as an [[Annual plant|annual]] summer crop in warm [[temperate climate|temperate]] areas, such as the Eastern United States and China. Sweet potatoes rarely [[flower]] when the daylight is longer than 11 hours, as is normal outside of the tropics. They are mostly propagated by stem or root cuttings or by adventitious shoots called "slips" that grow out from the tuberous roots during storage. True seeds are used for breeding only.<ref name=":2" />

They grow well in many farming conditions and have few natural enemies; pesticides are rarely needed. Sweet potatoes are grown on a variety of soils, but well-drained, light- and medium-textured soils with a pH range of 4.5–7.0 are more favorable for the plant.<ref name="Woolfe, 1992"/> They can be grown in poor soils with little fertilizer. However, sweet potatoes are very sensitive to aluminium toxicity and will die about six weeks after planting if  [[lime (material)|lime]] is not applied at planting in this type of soil.<ref name="Woolfe, 1992"/> As they are sown by vine cuttings rather than seeds, sweet potatoes are relatively easy to plant. As the rapidly growing vines shade out weeds, little weeding is needed. A commonly used herbicide to rid the soil of any unwelcome plants that may interfere with growth is [[Dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate|DCPA]], also known as Dacthal. In the tropics, the crop can be maintained in the ground and harvested as needed for market or home consumption. In temperate regions, sweet potatoes are most often grown on larger farms and are harvested before first frosts.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

Sweet potatoes are cultivated throughout tropical and warm temperate regions wherever there is sufficient water to support their growth.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1990/V1-424.html |contribution=Tropical root and tuber crops |author=O'Hair, Stephen K. |editor1=Janick, J. |editor2=Simon, J.E. |title=Advances in New Crops |publisher=Timber Press |location=Portland, OR |pages=424–428 |date=1990 |access-date=26 September 2014 |archive-date=5 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141005190418/http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1990/V1-424.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Sweet potatoes became common as a food crop in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, South India, [[Uganda]] and other African countries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Roullier |first1=Caroline |last2=Duputié |first2=Anne |last3=Wennekes |first3=Paul |last4=Benoit |first4=Laure |last5=Fernández Bringas |first5=Víctor Manuel |last6=Rossel |first6=Genoveva |last7=Tay |first7=David |last8=McKey |first8=Doyle |last9=Lebot |first9=Vincent |date=27 May 2013 |title=Disentangling the Origins of Cultivated Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=8 |issue=5 |pages=e62707 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0062707 |doi-access=free |pmid=23723970 |pmc=3664560 |bibcode=2013PLoSO...862707R |issn=1932-6203}}</ref>

A [[cultivar]] of the sweet potato called the ''boniato'' is grown in the [[Caribbean]]; its flesh is cream-colored, unlike the more common orange hue seen in other cultivars. ''Boniatos'' are not as sweet and moist as other sweet potatoes, but their consistency and delicate flavor are different from the common orange-colored sweet potato.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; clear:left text-align:center;"
|+ Sweet potato production – 2020
|-
! Country
! Production<br /><small>(millions of tonnes)</small>
|-
| {{CHN}} || 48.9
|-
| {{MWI}} || 6.9
|-
| {{TZA}} || 4.4
|-
| {{AGO}} || 1.7
|-
| {{ETH}} || 1.6
|-
| '''World''' || '''89.5'''
|-
| colspan="2" |<small>Source: [[FAOSTAT]] of the United Nations<ref name=faostat>{{cite web |url=http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |department=Statistics Division (FAOSTAT) |title=Sweet potato production in 2019; World Regions/Production Quantity from pick lists |date=2020 |access-date=24 March 2021 |archive-date=16 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231016103427/https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC |url-status=live }}</ref></small>
|}
Sweet potatoes have been a part of the diet in the U.S. for most of its history, especially in the Southeast. The average per capita consumption of sweet potatoes in the United States is only about {{cvt|1.5|-|2|kg|lb|1}} per year, down from {{cvt|13|kg|lb|0}} in 1920. "Orange sweet potatoes (the most common type encountered in the US) received higher appearance liking scores compared with yellow or purple cultivars."<ref name="SensoryAttributes">{{cite journal |author1=Leksrisompong, P.P. |author2=Whitson, M.E. |author3=Truong, V.D. |author4=Drake, M.A. |title=Sensory attributes and consumer acceptance of sweet potato cultivars with varying flesh colors |journal=Journal of Sensory Studies |volume=27 |issue=1 |year=2012 |pages=59–69 |doi=10.1111/j.1745-459x.2011.00367.x}}</ref> Purple and yellow sweet potatoes were not as well liked by consumers compared to orange sweet potatoes "possibly because of the familiarity of orange color that is associated with sweet potatoes."<ref name=SensoryAttributes />

In the Southeastern U.S., sweet potatoes are traditionally [[Curing (vegetable preservation)|cured]] to improve [[Sweet potato storage|storage]], flavor, and nutrition, and to allow wounds on the periderm of the harvested root to heal.<ref name="ncsweetpotatoes.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.ncsweetpotatoes.com/ |title=Sweet potatoes |publisher=North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission (NCSPC) |access-date=22 July 2006 |archive-date=27 April 1999 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990427215218/http://www.ncsweetpotatoes.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Proper curing requires drying the freshly dug roots on the ground for two to three hours, then storage at {{cvt|85|-|90|°F|°C|0|order=flip}} with 90 to 95% [[relative humidity]] from five to fourteen days. Cured sweet potatoes can keep for thirteen months when stored at {{cvt|55|-|59|°F|°C|0|order=flip}} with >90% relative humidity. Colder temperatures injure the roots.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/sweetpotato.html |title=Sweetpotato: Organic Production |publisher=National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service |access-date=3 November 2010 |archive-date=26 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526063807/http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/sweetpotato.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/Produce/ProduceFacts/Veg/sweetpotato.shtml |title=Sweet potato |series=Produce Facts |publisher=UC Davis |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101105211935/http://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/Produce/ProduceFacts/Veg/sweetpotato.shtml |archive-date=5 November 2010}}</ref>

=== Production ===
In 2020, global production of sweet potatoes was 89 million [[tonnes]], led by China with 55% of the world total (table). Secondary producers were [[Malawi]], [[Tanzania]], and [[Nigeria]].<ref name=faostat/> It is the fifth most important food crop in developing countries.<ref name="Verma 2016">{{cite web |last1=Verma |first1=Virendra M. |date=8 November 2016 |title=Development of Salt Tolerant Sweet Potato (''Ipomoea batatas'' (L.) Lam.) through Tissue Culture |url=https://comlandgrant.org/development-of-salt-tolerant-sweet-potato-ipomoea-batatas-l-lam-through-tissue-culture/ |website=College of Micronesia - Land Grant Program |language=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241205142723/https://comlandgrant.org/development-of-salt-tolerant-sweet-potato-ipomoea-batatas-l-lam-through-tissue-culture/ |archive-date=5 December 2024 |access-date=8 February 2025}}</ref> Studies are being done to develop a salt tolerant variety to combat the effects of [[Climate change|climate change]].<ref name="Verma 2016" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Rahman |first1=Atiq |last2=Uddin |first2=Nasir |date=2022 |chapter=Challenges and Opportunities for Saline Agriculture in Coastal Bangladesh |editor-last1=Negacz |editor-first1=Katarzyna |editor-last2=Vellinga |editor-first2=Pier |editor-last3=Barrett-Lennard |editor-first3=Edward |editor-last4=Choukr-Allah |editor-first4=Redouane |editor-last5=Elzenga |editor-first5=Theo |title=Future of Sustainable Agriculture in Saline Environments |url=https://archive.org/details/oapen-20.500.12657-48840/page/139 |url-access=registration |language=en |edition=First |location=Boca Raton, Florida |publisher=CRC Press |page=139 |isbn=978-0-367-62146-9 |oclc=1256558135 |access-date=8 February 2025}}</ref>

===Diseases===
{{Main|List of sweet potato diseases}}
Sweet potato suffers from [[Sweet potato chlorotic stunt virus]] (a [[Crinivirus]]).<ref name = "Global-Dimensions" /> In synergy with other any of a large number of other viruses, Untiveros et al., 2007 finds SPCSV produces an even more severe [[symptomology]].<ref name = "Global-Dimensions" >
 {{ Cite journal |
       language=en|
           year=2019|
         volume=6|
          issue=1|
      publisher=[[Annual Reviews (publisher)|Annual Reviews]]|
        journal=[[Annual Review of Virology]]|
           issn=2327-056X|
         first2=Rayapati|
         first1=Roger|
          last1=Jones|
          last2=Naidu|
          pages=387–409|
          title=Global Dimensions of Plant Virus Diseases: Current Status and Future Perspectives|
            doi=10.1146/annurev-virology-092818-015606|
          s2cid=195845201|
           pmid=31283443|doi-access=free}}
</ref> ''I. batatas'' suffers from several ''Phytophthora''s including ''[[Phytophthora carotovorum|P. carotovorum]]'', ''[[Phytophthora odoriferum|P. odoriferum]]'', and ''[[Phytophthora wasabiae|P. wasabiae]]''.<ref name="Soft-Rot">{{cite journal|issue=1|year=2018|first=Amy|publisher=[[Annual Reviews (publisher)|Annual Reviews]]|volume=56|last=Charkowski|pages=269–288|title=The Changing Face of Bacterial Soft-Rot Diseases|journal=[[Annual Review of Phytopathology]]|issn=0066-4286|doi=10.1146/annurev-phyto-080417-045906|pmid=29958075 |s2cid=49619951 }}</ref>