Batatas
(its aboriginal name). ORD. Convolvulaceae. This genus is now referred to Ipomoea. Strong, free-growing, greenhouse or stove deciduous twiners. Calyx of five sepals; corolla campanulate; stamens inclosed. They are of easy culture, only requiring plenty of room to spread, and are well adapted for trellis work, or to run up pillars. They are all tuberous rooted, and therefore require to be kept dry when in a dormant state. A rich, open, loamy soil is most suitable. Young cuttings strike readily under a hand glass, in heat.
B. bignonioides (Bignonia-like).* fl., corolla dark purple, funnel-shaped, with a curled limb; peduncles many-flowered, nutant, shorter than the petioles. July. l. three-lobed; hind lobes rounded, imbricate. Cayenne, 1824. (B. M. 2645.) B. Cavanillesii (Cavanilles').* fl. pale whitish-red; lobes of corolla obtuse, crenulated; peduncles one to three-flowered. August. l. quinate; leaflets ovate, entire, unequal. Native country unknown, 1815. B. edulis (edible).* Sweet Potato. fl., corolla 1in. long, white outside and purple inside; peduncles equal in length to the petioles, or exceeding them, three to four-flowered. l. variable, usually angular, also lobed. Stem creeping, rarely climbing. East Indies, 1797.
B. glaucifolia (milky-green-leaved). fl., corolla small, purplish, with an inflated tube, and ovate, acute segments; peduncles two-flowered, length of leaves. May. l. sagittate, truncate behind, on long petioles. Mexico, 1732. B. heterophylia (various-leaved). fl. blue; peduncles solitary, axillary, bearing each three sessile flowers. July. l. quinately palmate; lobes or leaflets ovate-spathulate, acute. Plant very villous.? Cuba, 1817. B. paniculata (panicled).* fl. large, purple; peduncles much exceeding the petioles, many-flowered, dichotomously and corymbosely panicled. June. l. palmate, five to seven-cleft; lobes ovate-lanceolate or elliptic, bluntish, rarely sub-acuminated. India, 1799. (G. C. n. s., x., 341.) B. senegalensis (Senegalese). fl. white or purplish, large; peduncles three-flowered. June. l. quinately palmate; lobes or leaflets ovate, obtuse, middle one the largest. Stem white, tubercular Guinea, 1823. B. venosa (veiny). fl. purple; peduncles umbellate, with an ovate-cordate, solitary leaf at the base of each pedicel. July. l. digitately quinate; leaflets petiolate, acuminated, quite entire. France, 1820.