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Ipomoea batatas : Spanish potato, sweet potato, sweet potato vine, yam

Ipomoea batatas is a productive and adaptable crop. Its tubers are an important source of food, starch, and raw material for producing alcohol. The stems and leaves can be used as livestock forage. In ancient Chinese texts, the name now used for "sweet potato" refers to Dioscorea alataLinnaeus, and not this species.

Common Names:

in English: Spanish potato, sweet potato, sweet potato vine, yam
in Benin: kukunduku
in Burkina Faso: bassi, déguibo, kotoloko, kunduba, nayia, téguibo, tingo, toma ule, voso, vosu
in Burundi: imibuto, umujumbu
in Cameroon: makeu, ton’ho-la
in Comoros: maniyambatsi
in Congo: kandolo, limenge, lugozi, mabenze, matembele, osokoro, tondolo
in Gabon: amongo, égwèta, émongo, futa, gémongo, imongo, lémongho, lifita, lungu, mbongo, mongo, mongo y’onigi, mongu, namôngha, ofogola
in Ivory Coast: bassi, déguibo, téguibo, tingo
in Kenya: abanyabwasi, bwere, chamai, mabwe, mîrîyo, viyobwe
in Madagascar: agnambatata, ravimbatata, vomanga
in S. Rhodesia: muMbambayira
in Senegal: juifata
in Tanzania: ngwasi
in Yoruba: anamo yaya, edunmusi, kukundunku, odunkun, odunkun adunmo
in Guatemala: iis, isaki, om
in Mexico: camote, camote de bejuco, chinin ak, iz, yashal chinzak
in Panama: kualu
in Peru: apichu, botyootyo, camote, cari, cavi, cjumara, coere, culiti, cumala huasca, cumal huasca, curiti, inchi, jipali, kuriti, open, pua, tipali, tuctuca
in China: fan shu, kan shu, shan yu
in India: gensugadde, rui-dak, sakar kand, sakarkanda, tatarta, thatar-da, thatar-ta
in Indonesia: ubi rambat
in Japan: Amerika-imo, imo, kan-sho, Satsuma-imo
in Lepcha: moongoor book
in Nepal: sakarkhanda
in Papua New Guinea: kanuwa, kaukau, kukule, marpu, serimbat, wane
in Philippines: kamote, kamotig, kamotit, kamuti, lapni, pangibagun, tigsi, tugi
in South Laos: buem yeng dum (Nya Hön people)
in Thailand: man-kaeo, man-la, man-thet, tae-lo
in Hawaii: ‘uala, ‘uwala
Maori name: kumara
in Samoa: ‘umala

Floral Description:

According to Flora of Pakistan

Plants prostrate or climbing with tuberous roots, perennial. The stems usually somewhat succulent, glabrous or pubescent. Leaves variable, from cordate to ovate, entire, dentate or often deeply lobed, 5-10 cm long, glabrous or pubescent. Flowers absent in some varieties, frequent in others, in few-flowered cymes or sub-umbellate-cymose. Sepals oblong, the outer acuminate and cuspidate, (8-) 10-15 mm long, mostly pubescent or only ciliate. Corolla with a lavender to purple limb and darker throat, white in some varieties, 4-7 cm long. Fruits rarely formed, ovoid, glabrous.

According to Flora of China

Herbs annual, with ellipsoid, fusiform, or elongated subterranean tubers; sap milky; axial parts glabrous or pilose. Stems prostrate or ascending, rarely twining, green or purplish, much branched, rooting at nodes. Petiole 2.5-20 cm; leaf blade broadly ovate to circular, 4-13 X 3-13 cm, margin entire or palmately 3-5(-7)-lobed, herbaceous; lobes broadly ovate to linear-lanceolate, sparsely pilose or glabrous. Inflorescences 1- or 3-7-flowered; peduncle 2-10.5 cm, stout, angular; bracts early deciduous, lanceolate, 2-4 mm. Pedicel 2-10 mm. Sepals oblong or elliptic, ± unequal, glabrous or pilose abaxially, margin ciliate, apex acute, mucronulate, outer 2 sepals 7-10 mm, inner 3 sepals 8-11 mm. Corolla pink, white, pale purple to purple, with a darker center, campanulate to funnelform, 3-4 cm, glabrous. Stamens included. Pistil included; ovary pubescent or glabrous. Capsule rarely produced, ovoid or depressed globose. Seeds glabrous.

Chemical Constitutes:

(+)-7-Hydroxycostal, (+)-7-Hydroxycostol, (5R,5'R,6S,6'S)-5,6:5',6'-Diepoxy-5,5',6,6'-tetrahydro-beta,beta-carotene, 2alpha,7beta-Dihydroxynortropane, 3,5-Dicaffeoylquinic acid, 4-Caffeoylquinic acid, 6-Myoporol, 7-Hydroxymyoporone, 9-Ribosyl-cis-zeatin, 9-Ribosyl-trans-zeatin, Batatic acid, beta-Carotene, beta-Carotene, Calystegin B2, Calystegine B1, Calystegine B3, Cyanidin 3-(6'',6'''-dicaffeylsophoroside)-5-glucoside, Cyanidin 3-(6''-caffeyl-6'''-ferulylsophoroside)-5-glucoside, Cyanidin 3-(6''-caffeylsophoroside)-5-glucoside, Cyanidin 3-O-sophoroside-5-O-glucoside, Cyanidin 3-sophoroside-5-glucoside, Dehydroipomeamarone, Dihydro-7-hydroxymyoporone, Gibberellin A1, Gibberellin A19, Gibberellin A20, Gibberellin A23, Gibberellin A3, Gibberellin A5, Ipomine A, Ipomoeamarone, Ipomoeaxanthin A, Ipomoeaxanthin B, Ipomoeaxanthin C1, Ipomoeaxanthin C2, Murucoidin I, Octadecyl (E)-p-coumarate, Octadecyl (Z)-p-coumarate, Operculin VII, Peonidin 3-ferulyldiglucoside-5-glucoside, Peonidin 3-sophoroside-5-glucoside, Simonic acid B, Simonin IV, trans-Zeatin

Pharmacological Activities: 

Poisonous or toxic when eaten in large quantities. Plant used for stomach disorders. Sap used on sores. Roots laxative; leaves and roots paste applied to scorpion bite. Leaves for diabetes, boils; leaves decoction drunk to relieve stomachache; leaves pounded with leaves of Hygrophila auriculata made into paste applied for expelling thorn from foot; leaves macerated with lime, and the leaves of Ipomoea aquatica and Amaranthus spinosus, applied to boils. Flowers and young twigs along with Oxalis corymbosa eaten in curries for gastrointestinal disorders.
Other activities include:
Abortifacient, Aldose reductase inhibitor, Anti-HIV, Antibacterial, Antidiabetic, Antidote (shellfish), Antihyperglycemic, Antihypertensive, Antiinflammatory, Antileukemic, Antimelanogenic, Antimelanomic, Antimutagenic, Antioxidant, Antiproliferative, Antiradicular, Antiseptic, Antitumor, Antitumor promoter, Antiviral, Aphrodisiac, Apoptotic, Artemicide, Astringent, Bactericide, Cerebrotonic, Chemopreventive, Demulcent, Fungicide, Hepatoprotective, Hypocholesterolemic, Hypoglycemic, Hypotensive, Hypotriglyceridemic, Immunostimulant, Insecticide, Lactagogue, Laxative, Tonic, UV-Screen, Vasorelaxant, Vulnerary
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