Ipomoea pandurata
Encyclopedia
Ipomoea pandurata the Wild Potato Vine, Big-rooted Morning Glory or Man-of-the-Earth is a species of herbaceous
perennial
vine
. Another common name is "manroot
", but that typically refers to the quite unrelated gourd
genus
Marah
.
It is rarely cultivated but grows wild in North America appearing along roadsides, in fields and along fence rows. It sustains itself over the winter with a tuberous root
similar to its better known relative, the Sweet Potato
(I. batatas).
that is somewhat bitter. Caution should be taken as some roots have more of a bitter taste than others and ought to be boiled in "several changes of water."
Herbaceous
A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...
perennial
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
vine
Vine
A vine in the narrowest sense is the grapevine , but more generally it can refer to any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent, that is to say climbing, stems or runners...
. Another common name is "manroot
Manroot
The manroots, wild cucumbers, or cucumber gourd are flowering plants in the gourd family , native to western North America. They are also commonly called Old man in the ground. The genus name comes from Hebrew מָרָ֔א The manroots, wild cucumbers, or cucumber gourd (genus Marah) are flowering...
", but that typically refers to the quite unrelated gourd
Gourd
A gourd is a plant of the family Cucurbitaceae. Gourd is occasionally used to describe crops like cucumbers, squash, luffas, and melons. The term 'gourd' however, can more specifically, refer to the plants of the two Cucurbitaceae genera Lagenaria and Cucurbita or also to their hollow dried out shell...
genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Marah
Manroot
The manroots, wild cucumbers, or cucumber gourd are flowering plants in the gourd family , native to western North America. They are also commonly called Old man in the ground. The genus name comes from Hebrew מָרָ֔א The manroots, wild cucumbers, or cucumber gourd (genus Marah) are flowering...
.
It is rarely cultivated but grows wild in North America appearing along roadsides, in fields and along fence rows. It sustains itself over the winter with a tuberous root
Tuber
Tubers are various types of modified plant structures that are enlarged to store nutrients. They are used by plants to survive the winter or dry months and provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing season and they are a means of asexual reproduction...
similar to its better known relative, the Sweet Potato
Sweet potato
The sweet potato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots are an important root vegetable. The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. Of the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of...
(I. batatas).
Identification
The plant is a "trailing vine" with "singly attached heart shaped leaves" and white bell shaped flowers,(2-4 inches, or 5-10 centimeters in size) which have pink to purple centers. The root is "large, vertical, [and] deeply buried"Uses
The tuber can be baked or boiled like a potato. The taste can be described as a sweet potatothat is somewhat bitter. Caution should be taken as some roots have more of a bitter taste than others and ought to be boiled in "several changes of water."