What is "sweet potato"

Potato \Po*ta"to\, n.; pl. Potatoes. [Sp. patata potato, batata sweet potato, from the native American name (probably batata) in Hayti.] (Bot.)

1. A plant ( Solanum tuberosum) of the Nightshade family, and its esculent farinaceous tuber, of which there are numerous varieties used for food. It is native of South America, but a form of the species is found native as far north as New Mexico.

2. The sweet potato (see below). Potato beetle, Potato bug. (Zo["o]l.)

   1. A beetle ( Doryphora decemlineata) which feeds, both in the larval and adult stages, upon the leaves of the potato, often doing great damage. Called also Colorado potato beetle, and Doryphora. See Colorado beetle.

   2. The Lema trilineata, a smaller and more slender striped beetle which feeds upon the potato plant, bur does less injury than the preceding species. Potato fly (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of blister beetles infesting the potato vine. The black species ( Lytta atrata), the striped ( Lytta vittata), and the gray ( Lytta Fabricii syn. Lytta cinerea) are the most common. See Blister beetle, under Blister. Potato rot, a disease of the tubers of the potato, supposed to be caused by a kind of mold ( Peronospora infestans), which is first seen upon the leaves and stems. Potato weevil (Zo["o]l.), an American weevil ( Baridius trinotatus) whose larva lives in and kills the stalks of potato vines, often causing serious damage to the crop. Potato whisky, a strong, fiery liquor, having a hot, smoky taste, and rich in amyl alcohol (fusel oil); it is made from potatoes or potato starch. Potato worm (Zo["o]l.), the large green larva of a sphinx, or hawk moth ( Macrosila quinquemaculata); -- called also tomato worm. See Illust. under Tomato. Seaside potato (Bot.), Ipom[oe]a Pes-Capr[ae], a kind of morning-glory with rounded and emarginate or bilobed leaves. [West Indies] Sweet potato (Bot.), a climbing plant ( Ipom[oe]a Balatas) allied to the morning-glory. Its farinaceous tubers have a sweetish taste, and are used, when cooked, for food. It is probably a native of Brazil, but is cultivated extensively in the warmer parts of every continent, and even as far north as New Jersey. The name potato was applied to this plant before it was to the Solanum tuberosum, and this is the ``potato'' of the Southern United States. Wild potato. (Bot.)

      1. A vine ( Ipom[oe]a pandurata) having a pale purplish flower and an enormous root. It is common in sandy places in the United States.

      2. A similar tropical American plant ( Ipom[oe]a fastigiata) which it is thought may have been the original stock of the sweet potato.

Sweet \Sweet\, a. [Compar. Sweeter; superl. Sweetest.] [OE. swete, swote, sote, AS. sw[=e]te; akin to OFries. sw[=e]te, OS. sw[=o]ti, D. zoet, G. s["u]ss, OHG. suozi, Icel. s[ae]tr, s[oe]tr, Sw. s["o]t, Dan. s["o]d, Goth. suts, L. suavis, for suadvis, Gr. ?, Skr. sv[=a]du sweet, svad, sv[=a]d, to sweeten. [root]175. Cf. Assuage, Suave, Suasion.]

1. Having an agreeable taste or flavor such as that of sugar; saccharine; -- opposed to sour and bitter; as, a sweet beverage; sweet fruits; sweet oranges.

2. Pleasing to the smell; fragrant; redolent; balmy; as, a sweet rose; sweet odor; sweet incense.

   The breath of these flowers is sweet to me.
   --Longfellow.

3. Pleasing to the ear; soft; melodious; harmonious; as, the sweet notes of a flute or an organ; sweet music; a sweet voice; a sweet singer.

   To make his English sweet upon his tongue.
   --Chaucer.

   A voice sweet, tremulous, but powerful.
   --Hawthorne.

4. Pleasing to the eye; beautiful; mild and attractive; fair; as, a sweet face; a sweet color or complexion.

   Sweet interchange Of hill and valley, rivers, woods, and plains.
   --Milton.

5. Fresh; not salt or brackish; as, sweet water.
   --Bacon.

6. Not changed from a sound or wholesome state. Specifically:

   1. Not sour; as, sweet milk or bread.

   2. Not state; not putrescent or putrid; not rancid; as, sweet butter; sweet meat or fish.

7. Plaesing to the mind; mild; gentle; calm; amiable; winning; presuasive; as, sweet manners. Canst thou bind the sweet influence of Pleiades? --Job xxxviii. 3

   1. Mildness and sweet reasonableness is the one established rule of Christian working. --M. Arnold. Note: Sweet is often used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, sweet-blossomed, sweet-featured, sweet-smelling, sweet-tempered, sweet-toned, etc. Sweet alyssum. (Bot.) See Alyssum. Sweet apple. (Bot.)

      1. Any apple of sweet flavor.

      2. See Sweet-top. Sweet bay. (Bot.)

         1. The laurel ( laurus nobilis).

         2. Swamp sassafras. Sweet calabash (Bot.), a plant of the genus Passiflora ( P. maliformis) growing in the West Indies, and producing a roundish, edible fruit, the size of an apple. Sweet cicely. (Bot.)

            1. Either of the North American plants of the umbelliferous genus Osmorrhiza having aromatic roots and seeds, and white flowers.
               --Gray.

            2. A plant of the genus Myrrhis ( M. odorata) growing in England.

               Sweet calamus, or Sweet cane. (Bot.) Same as Sweet flag, below.

               Sweet Cistus (Bot.), an evergreen shrub ( Cistus Ladanum) from which the gum ladanum is obtained.

               Sweet clover. (Bot.) See Melilot.

               Sweet coltsfoot (Bot.), a kind of butterbur ( Petasites sagittata) found in Western North America.

               Sweet corn (Bot.), a variety of the maize of a sweet taste. See the Note under Corn.

               Sweet fern (Bot.), a small North American shrub ( Comptonia asplenifolia syn. Myrica asplenifolia) having sweet-scented or aromatic leaves resembling fern leaves.

               Sweet flag (Bot.), an endogenous plant ( Acorus Calamus) having long flaglike leaves and a rootstock of a pungent aromatic taste. It is found in wet places in Europe and America. See Calamus,

   2. Sweet gale (Bot.), a shrub ( Myrica Gale) having bitter fragrant leaves; -- also called sweet willow, and Dutch myrtle. See 5th Gale. Sweet grass (Bot.), holy, or Seneca, grass. Sweet gum (Bot.), an American tree ( Liquidambar styraciflua). See Liquidambar. Sweet herbs, fragrant herbs cultivated for culinary purposes. Sweet John (Bot.), a variety of the sweet William. Sweet leaf (Bot.), horse sugar. See under Horse. Sweet marjoram. (Bot.) See Marjoram. Sweet marten (Zo["o]l.), the pine marten. Sweet maudlin (Bot.), a composite plant ( Achillea Ageratum) allied to milfoil. Sweet oil, olive oil. Sweet pea. (Bot.) See under Pea. Sweet potato. (Bot.) See under Potato. Sweet rush (Bot.), sweet flag. Sweet spirits of niter (Med. Chem.) See Spirit of nitrous ether, under Spirit. Sweet sultan (Bot.), an annual composite plant ( Centaurea moschata), also, the yellow-flowered ( C. odorata); -- called also sultan flower. Sweet tooth, an especial fondness for sweet things or for sweetmeats. [Colloq.] Sweet William.

      1. (Bot.) A species of pink ( Dianthus barbatus) of many varieties.

      2. (Zo["o]l.) The willow warbler.

      3. (Zo["o]l.) The European goldfinch; -- called also sweet Billy. [Prov. Eng.]

         Sweet willow (Bot.), sweet gale.

         Sweet wine. See Dry wine, under Dry.

         To be sweet on, to have a particular fondness for, or special interest in, as a young man for a young woman. [Colloq.]
         --Thackeray.

         Syn: Sugary; saccharine; dulcet; luscious.

n. 1 A tropical perennial American vine, ''Ipomoea batatas'', having a fleshy tuber. 2 The tuber of this plant cooked as a vegetable.

1. n. the fleshy root of the sweet potato vine

2. pantropical vine widely cultivated in several varieties for its large sweet tuberous root with orange flesh [syn: sweet potato vine, Ipomoea batatas]

3. edible tuberous root of the sweet potato vine grown widely in warm regions of the United States

4. egg-shaped terra-cotta wind instrument with a mouthpiece and finger holes [syn: ocarina]

The sweet potato or kumara (Ipomoea batatas) is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the family Convolvulaceae.

Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots are a root vegetable. The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. Ipomoea batatas is native to the tropical regions in the Americas. Of the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of Convolvulaceae, I. batatas is the only crop plant of major importance—some others are used locally (e.g. I. aquatica (kangkong)), but many are poisonous. The sweet potato is only distantly related to the potato (Solanum tuberosum) and does not belong to the nightshade family.

The genus Ipomoea that contains the sweet potato also includes several garden flowers called morning glories, though that term is not usually extended to Ipomoea batatas. Some cultivars of Ipomoea batatas are grown as ornamental plants; the name tuberous morning glory may be used in a horticultural context.

The plant is a herbaceous perennial vine, bearing alternate heart-shaped or palmately lobed leaves and medium-sized sympetalous flowers. The edible tuberous root is long and tapered, with a smooth skin whose color ranges between yellow, orange, red, brown, purple, and beige. Its flesh ranges from beige through white, red, pink, violet, yellow, orange, and purple. Sweet potato varieties with white or pale yellow flesh are less sweet and moist than those with red, pink or orange flesh.