Potatoes native to New World?

[Guest guest]

Although various members of the nightshade family are found

worldwide, aren't potatoes and tomatoes (and some of the other

nightshade " veggies " native to the New World (the Americas)? They've

only been known to Europe for a few hundred years and less than that

to Asia.

 

BTW, yams and sweet potatoes are not the same thing. They belong to

different families. I'm reminded of this because when I went shopping

yesterday, the local supermarket had sweet potatoes but not yams, and

I wanted yams because they are a good food for the Kidneys. I don't

know if sweet potatoes belong to the nightshade family. Maybe a

botanist on the list knows.

 

Thanks,

Victoria

[Guest guest]

>I don't

know if sweet potatoes belong to the nightshade family.

 

Hi Victoria,

They are of the same order " Solanales " but nightshades

are of family " Solanaceae " and SP is of family " Convolvulaceae " .

Same as Morning Glory....altho, didn't someone back in the

'60's promote smoking Morning Glory!! ;-D ....think they musta

been 'falsely enlightened' from smoking too much of the other stuff!!!

Kit

 

Here's some SP trivia...

 

Ipomoea batatas (Sweet Potato)

(Life; Embryophyta (plants); Angiospermae (flowering plants); Eudicotyledons;

Order: Solanales; Family: Convolvulaceae; Genus: Ipomoea)

Sweet potatoes fall within the same genus as Morning Glory and originate from

Central and South America where they were already being cultivated by 2500

BC.

Sweet Potato originates from Central and South America but the wild species it

originates from has not been fully resolved. Its cultivation as a vegetable in

South and Central America goes back to about 2500 BC. It was brought back to

Europe by Columbus on his first voyage to the New World and entered

cultivation

in Spain soon afterwards. By 1600 Sweet Potatoes were being grown in England.

There is great confusion about how and when Sweet Potatoes came to be

cultivated on the Pacific Islands in Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia.

Their

use on these islands seems to pre-date their possible introduction by European

explorers but how this came about has not been fully resolved.

The tubers of Sweet Potato are eaten cooked as a vegetable. They contain 3-6%

sugar which is increased at warm temperatures and through the early stages of

the cooking process through the enzymatic breakdown of starch to glucose.

There

are more calories, minerals and vitamin A in sweet potato than ordinary

potatoes but the latter have more protein.

Sweet Potatoes are often confused with Yams the latter of which fall in the

genus Dioscorea.

<http://www.museums.org.za/bio/plants/convolvulaceae/ipomoea_batatas.htm>ht

tp://www.museums.org.za/bio/plants/convolvulaceae/ipomoea_batatas.htm

[Guest guest]

> There is great confusion about how and when Sweet

> Potatoes came to be

> cultivated on the Pacific Islands in Polynesia,

> Micronesia and Melanesia.

> Their

> use on these islands seems to pre-date their

> possible introduction by European

> explorers but how this came about has not been fully

> resolved.

 

There was quite a bit of sea traffic between asia and

turtle island back then. There were at least some

shang dynasty (1600 to 1100 b.c.) settlements in the

central part of this continent. China - American

contact probably goes back much further.

Australian aborigines were making sea voyages to

south and central at least as far back as 11 000 years

ago.

 

See you,

Hugo

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Thanks, Kit, for a lot of good info.

 

I remember the smoking Morning Glory seeds thing. Never tried it

myself, but remember hearing about it.

 

I remember the TCM herbalist I saw pointing out that yams and sweet

potatoes were not the same thing, and that sweet potatoes and morning

glory were related.

 

BTW, it's against the law to sell Morning Glory seeds (for planting)

or plants in Arizona (U.S. state). I don't think it has anything to

do with uses of it but with the threat to native vegetation. But

they do grow wild in southeast AZ. Some domestic garden plants in

other parts of the country or world become wildflowers or plants in

SE AZ. Like zinnias. But I digress.

 

Do you (or anyone) remember the memory device used back in high

school biology for remembering the classification scheme. The one we

were taught was King Phillip of Spain - Kingdom, Phylum, ..., but I

can't remember the rest of it or exactly how it goes. Still haven't

unpacked my biology or botany books and can't remember the sequence.

 

Thanks,

Victoria

 

> They are of the same order " Solanales " but nightshades

> are of family " Solanaceae " and SP is of family " Convolvulaceae " .

> Same as Morning Glory

 

> Ipomoea batatas (Sweet Potato)

> (Life; Embryophyta (plants); Angiospermae (flowering plants);

Eudicotyledons;

> Order: Solanales; Family: Convolvulaceae; Genus: Ipomoea)

> Sweet potatoes fall within the same genus as Morning Glory and

originate from

> Central and South America where they were already being cultivated

by 2500

> BC.

> Sweet Potato originates from Central and South America but the wild

species it

> originates from has not been fully resolved. Its cultivation as a

vegetable in

> South and Central America goes back to about 2500 BC. It was

brought back to

> Europe by Columbus on his first voyage to the New World and entered

> cultivation

> in Spain soon afterwards. By 1600 Sweet Potatoes were being grown

in England.

> There is great confusion about how and when Sweet Potatoes came to

be

> cultivated on the Pacific Islands in Polynesia, Micronesia and

Melanesia.

> Their

> use on these islands seems to pre-date their possible introduction

by European

> explorers but how this came about has not been fully resolved.

> The tubers of Sweet Potato are eaten cooked as a vegetable. They

contain 3-6%

> sugar which is increased at warm temperatures and through the early

stages of

> the cooking process through the enzymatic breakdown of starch to

glucose.

> There

> are more calories, minerals and vitamin A in sweet potato than

ordinary

> potatoes but the latter have more protein.

> Sweet Potatoes are often confused with Yams the latter of which

fall in the

> genus Dioscorea.

>

<http://www.museums.org.za/bio/plants/convolvulaceae/ipomoea_batatas.h

tm>ht

>

tp://www.museums.org.za/bio/plants/convolvulaceae/ipomoea_batatas.htm

[Guest guest]

Thanks, Hugo. I was wondering about this. The other day I was doing

a search for carbuncles and TCM. I came across a webpage that

recommended using mashed sweet potato on carbuncles. I wondered if

they meant yam instead of sweet potato, how soon China had known

about and had sweet potatoes, or if this was a fairly recent remedy.

 

Victoria

 

> There was quite a bit of sea traffic between asia and

> turtle island back then. There were at least some

> shang dynasty (1600 to 1100 b.c.) settlements in the

> central part of this continent. China - American

> contact probably goes back much further.

> Australian aborigines were making sea voyages to

> south and central at least as far back as 11 000 years

> ago.

[Guest guest]

The one we

were taught was King Phillip of Spain - Kingdom, Phylum, ..., but I

can't remember the rest of it or exactly how it goes. Still haven't

 

Hey Victoria,

I'm impressed....I can't quite stretch it back far enough to

remember the mnemonic device for taxonomy from my high

school days/daze!!! It was different, tho....there's probably

thousands out there. Here's another I found:

Kittens pounce clumsily on furry, green spiders....

kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species.

 

Kit