Tuberous perennial of the Convolvulaceae family, treated as an annual in temperate climates, Ipomoea batatas is native to tropical America and has been cultivated for millennia in warm regions worldwide for its edible tubers — the sweet potato. It is one of the most widely cultivated food plants in the world, with a domestic history dating back over 5,000 years in South America.
A creeping and twining plant, it develops long stems that spread out or twine around available supports, bearing large heart-shaped to lobed leaves, whose color varies according to cultivars from bright green to dark purple almost black.
The flowers, often sparsely produced in temperate climates due to insufficient heat, are beautiful funnel-shaped corollas, pink to pale lilac, with a center deeply colored in intense violet-purple from which dark veins radiate towards the periphery — a very characteristic pattern of the genus. In its natural tropical habitat, flowering is continuous. In temperate cultivation, it occurs in summer, under well-warmed and sunny conditions.
It requires full sun, warmth, well-drained soil, and regular watering. The tubers are harvested in the fall before the first frosts; they can be stored and replanted the following year.