Xinye Sweet Potatoes

Xinye Sweet Potatoes

　　Sweet potatoes, also called yams, batatas, and other names, are common perennial dicotyledonous plants, herbaceous in nature, with slender vines and stems that creep along the ground. The tuberous roots perform anaerobic respiration producing lactic acid, with skin colors ranging from white to red, and flesh mostly yellowish-white, though purple varieties also exist. In addition to being eaten, they can also be used to produce sugar, brew wine, and make alcohol.

Sweet potatoes, also known as yams or batatas, are annual plants of the Convolvulaceae family. Different regions have different names for them: people in Henan call them sweet potatoes, those in Shandong refer to them as groundnuts, in Jiangsu—especially the Xuzhou area—they are called white taros, in Sichuan they are known as red yams, in Beijing as white yams, in Jiangxi as batatas, and in Fujian as sweet potatoes.

An annual plant of the Convolvulaceae family. It is a trailing herbaceous plant growing over two meters long, sprawling along the ground. It has underground tuberous roots shaped like spindles, with outer skins that are earthy yellow or purplish-red. The leaves are alternate, broadly ovate, and 3–5 palmately lobed. The inflorescence is axillary cymes, with small bracts that are awl-shaped, sepals that are oblong and unequal in length, and funnel-shaped to bell-shaped corollas that are white to purplish-red. The fruit is an ovate or flattened round capsule, containing 1–4 seeds. The tuberous roots serve as a starch source and can be eaten, used for brewing alcohol, or as animal feed. They are widely cultivated across the country.