Perennial tropical vine grown for swollen storage roots. Treated as an annual everywhere outside true subtropics.
Hardiness ratings
| System | Rating | Temperature range | How to read it |
|---|---|---|---|
| USDA hardiness zone | Zone 8–12 | −12.2 °C to 15.6 °C | Plant tolerates down to this zone |
| RHS hardiness rating | H4 | −10 °C to −5 °C | Plant needs at least this level of cold tolerance |
| Canadian plant hardiness zone | Zone 8–9 | −7 °C and warmer | Plant tolerates down to this zone |
| Australian (ANBG) zone | Zone 4–7 | 0 °C and warmer | Plant tolerates down to this zone |
About Sweetpotato
Sweet potato is not a potato and not closely related to one: it belongs to the morning glory family, and the edible part is a true swollen root rather than a stem tuber. Its history is genuinely puzzling — it is American in origin, yet it was being grown across Polynesia well before European contact, which remains one of the better pieces of evidence for early trans-Pacific contact. In much of the world the leaves are eaten as a green as well. It needs a long warm season and is propagated from shoots, called slips, rather than from seed.
Growing notes
- Botanically unrelated to potato — Convolvulaceae (morning glory family) rather than Solanaceae
- Started from "slips" (rooted shoots from a tuber), not tubers themselves
Categories
Related plants
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