Abstract
Most systematic botanists concur that the origin of sweet potato, Ipomoea batatas, was somewhere in tropical America in regions that include Panama, northern parts of South America, and the West Indies. The closest relative, I. trifida, is found wild in Mexico. Another related species, I. tiliacea, can be found in the West Indies. Ipomoea batatas is a hexaploid, but most of the approximate 400 Ipomoea species are diploids. The evolutionary steps in sweet potato domestication remain unclear.
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Rubatzky, V.E., Yamaguchi, M. (1997). Sweet Potato. In: World Vegetables. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-6015-9_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-6015-9_10
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