Wild potato vine is related to the sweet potatoes we buy at grocery stores. This native vine is also related to the morning glories that decorate trellises and to the bindweed that plagues gardeners and farmers.
Wild potato vine is a perennial trailing or climbing vine.
The flowers are 1–7 in terminal clusters, each flower on a long peduncle, funnel-shaped, to 3 inches long, white with a dark crimson or purple center.
Blooms May–September.
The leaves are on long stems, heart-shaped, pointed, to 6 inches long.
The root is a tuber to 2 feet long and weighing 20 pounds or more, often branched, leglike.
Similar species: Eight species in genus Ipomoea (ih-poe-MEE-uh) have been recorded for Missouri. This is the morning glory and sweet potato genus.
- Five of the Ipomoea species recorded for our state are nonnative, introduced garden plants that can escape from cultivation.
The remaining two, native Missouri species are:
- Red morning glory or scarlet starglory (Ipomoea coccinea). Scattered, mostly south of the Missouri River. Occasionally cultivated for its red flowers, which attract hummingbirds, but with its large quantity of seeds, it can become a nuisance in gardens.
- Small white morning glory (Ipomoea lacunosa). Common nearly statewide. Has white flowers (sometimes pink). The petals are about ¾ inch long; spread open, they are about ¾ inch wide.
Stem length: to 16 feet.
Statewide.
Habitat and Conservation
Occurs on banks of rivers and streams, margins of lakes and ponds, ditches, roadsides and railroads, and other disturbed areas; also crop fields, fallow fields, and old fields.
Status
Native Missouri wildflower.
Human Connections
The large, fleshy, vertical roots are difficult to excavate but are edible. Native Americans cooked and ate it as a starchy vegetable.
The rootstock is also said to have mild purgative properties.
As a garden plant, it can grow rapidly, smothering nearby plants, and often needs support.
Ecosystem Connections
Long-tongued insects, including bees, butterflies, and moths, visit the flowers.
Several types of beetles and moth larvae eat the foliage; others feed on the rootstock.
The tangled foliage creates a refuge for many animals.
Related plants: Genus Ipomoea has some 500 to 650 species globally. Most live in tropical or warm-temperate regions.
- The most economically important member of this genus is the cultivated edible sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas). It has been in cultivation as a food plant for more than 5,000 years.
- You've probably seen the ornamental "sweet potato vines" grown as mat-forming groundcovers or trailing container plants for their deep purple, red, or chartreuse leaves. These are varieties of Ipomoea batatas and will develop thickened, tuberous roots by summer's end.
- The genus also includes several species of cultivated morning glory flowers. The funnel- or trumpet-shaped flowers are characteristic of this genus and the family: the petals are fused into a pleated, spreading tube and are spirally twisted in bud.
