Man of the Earth: Wild Sweet Potato Vine

Ipomoea pandurata blooms July through August. The three- to four-inch white flowers have striking red-purple centers.

Leaves are heart-shaped and sometimes fiddle-shaped, with variations. The vines may top 30 feet in length.

Flowers mature into a capsule containing two to four dull, hairy, reddish-brown seeds.

Its large, potato-like root gives this native morning-glory its most widely known common names: man of the earth and wild sweet potato.

Weighing as much as 30 pounds, the roots can be boiled or roasted and eaten. American Indians ate them, but reportedly not a preferred food.

The roots grow almost straight down, and their culinary quality is uninspiring.

At best, they have the taste of a faintly bitter sweet potato. At worst, by are difficult to chew, but stave off starvation. Either way, IpomoeaÊpandurata is not the native, low-budget version of Ipomoea batatas (sweet potato).

Raw, the root is a diuretic and can be a strong laxative. Historically, its medicinal applications have been many, with little effect except as a purgative.

Some prize man o the earth in their household gardens. For farmers, the wild sweet potato is a troublesome weed. It grows rapidly in sunny fields, where corn and other grains are planted. There, it saps nutrients from commercial crops and can interfere with harvest.

Taxonomic Classification

• Superdivision: Spermatophyta (seed plants)
• Division: Magnoliophyta (flowering plants)
• Class: Magnoliopsida (Dicotyledons)
• Subclass: Asteridae
• Order: Solanales
• Family: Convolvulaceae (morning-glory family)
• Genus: Ipomoea L. (morning-glory)
• Species: Ipomoea pandurata (L.) G.F.W. Mey. (man of the earth)
• Common Names: wild potato vine, man of the earth, wild man-of-the-earth, bigroot morning glory

References

US Department of Agriculture Plants Database pomoea pandurata profile.