Potatoes belong to the nightshade family (Solanaceace), which also includes many other important crops like peppers, tomatoes, tomatillos, eggplant, tobacco, and more. Critical to the world’s food supply, potatoes are the fourth most farmed crop. Potatoes are only distantly related to sweet potatoes. They are also called “spuds,” which probably originated centuries ago from a term for a spade used to dig holes to plant potatoes. ![]() Sweet potatoes refer to a vine species ( Ipomoea batatas) in the morning glory family (Convolvulaceae). This species is likely what is on your Thanksgiving dinner table. In the United States and Canada, sweet potatoes are often (confusingly) referred to as “yams.” But sweet potatoes are not even closely related to yams. As such, the USDA requires any label with “yam” to also include “sweet potato.” So why are sweet potatoes sometimes confusingly called yams? The name probably dates back to colonial times when slaves from Africa noted the similarities between some varieties of sweet potatoes to yams in Africa.Īnd last-the “classic” potato, Solanum tuberosum. Yams can be stored for very long periods of time, making them an important crop for seasons when food is in short supply. Yam tubers can be as large as five feet long! Yams are widely cultivated worldwide, especially in West Africa, where 95% of the crop is harvested. Monocots (related to grasses and lilies). Yam is a common name for several vine species in the genus Dioscorea (plant family: Dioscoreaceae). They are Potatoes and yams technically have modified belowground stems (“stem tubers”) while sweet potatoes have “root tubers.” However, they all are widely cultivated for their nutritious starchy belowground plant structures called “tubers.” Tubers function as storage organs for the plants, providing energy for regrowth (the “eyes” or sprouting buds of your potatoes when they sit in your kitchen for too long). ![]() What you know as yams are most likely not actually yams. In fact, your “classic” potatoes, sweet potatoes, and yams are all in different plant families.
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