Since both morning glories (some types) and sweet potatoes are both types of Ipomoea, is it correct to say that sweet potatoes are, in fact, a type of morning glory? Their flowers also look very similar.

...only to the extent that you think that tomatoes are a type of potato (both Solanum).
They are members of the same plant family. A plant family is defined as a taxonomic group containing one or more genera. These genera share physical characteristics that can help identify them but it does not make them 'the same as' a related genus.

Sweet potatoes & morning glories are in the same genus, Ipomoea. Many species of Ipomoea make morning-blooming flowers, but the nickname MG is usually only used for the ones with the bigger blooms. But don't let that stop you if you want to call your plants MGs. Saying MG does not automatically determine a specific species, and there are many cultivars of some of the species.

Sweet potato, as far as I've seen, is reserved for I. batatas & cultivars of that.

purpleinopp said:Sweet potatoes & morning glories are in the same genus, Ipomoea. Many species of Ipomoea make morning-blooming flowers, but the nickname MG is usually only used for the ones with the bigger blooms. But don't let that stop you if you want to call your plants MGs. Saying MG does not automatically determine a specific species, and there are many cultivars of some of the species.

Sweet potato, as far as I've seen, is reserved for I. batatas & cultivars of that.

Thanks!

My pleasure!

Another opinion of this:
Having taken Vascular Plant Taxonomy and having grown Ipomoea species for many years, I personally consider ANY Ipomoea that blooms in the Morning to be a Morning Glory including Ipomoea batatas.

I note that Ipomoea batatas has also been successfully crossed with Ipomoea purpurea, using hormones to prevent fruit abscission.

I consider Ipomoea batatas to be a Morning Glory, thus for me all sweet potatos are a type of Morning Glory, but not all Morning Glories are a type of (sweet) potato.

The epithet batatas is literally a transliteration of the same word as Potato. The name is Ipomoea potatoes, but just spelled differently. Several morning glories however also form storage roots and would have also been traditionally called a potato before the 1500s by the Native Americans. Potato being a generic word for large root foods.

There are several Morning Glories that have large storage roots and the presence of these roots does not mean that Ipomoea batatas (the sweet potato) is not a morning glory.

The only Ipomoea I consider to not be Morning Glories are those that bloom nocturnally like Ipomoea alba and Ipomoea muricata. Some call them Evening Glories.

To me sweet potatoes are the edible roots of a Morning Glory.
I am not saying that other opinions are wrong, this is just mine on this matter.

The short answer is yes. There are also many types of ipomoea that have edible roots. Not just ipomoea batatas which we call the sweet potato.

The ornamental sweet potatoes I've grown have bloomed in the morning same as my morning glories.





Ipomoea pandurata which is a US native also has an edible root so I've read-

Man of the earth (Ipomoea pandurata)

Entwined said: Another opinion of this:
Having taken Vascular Plant Taxonomy and having grown Ipomoea species for many years, I personally consider ANY Ipomoea that blooms in the Morning to be a Morning Glory including Ipomoea batatas.

I note that Ipomoea batatas has also been successfully crossed with Ipomoea purpurea, using hormones to prevent fruit abscission.

I consider Ipomoea batatas to be a Morning Glory, thus for me all sweet potatos are a type of Morning Glory, but not all Morning Glories are a type of (sweet) potato.

The epithet batatas is literally a transliteration of the same word as Potato. The name is Ipomoea potatoes, but just spelled differently. Several morning glories however also form storage roots and would have also been traditionally called a potato before the 1500s by the Native Americans. Potato being a generic word for large root foods.

There are several Morning Glories that have large storage roots and the presence of these roots does not mean that Ipomoea batatas (the sweet potato) is not a morning glory.

The only Ipomoea I consider to not be Morning Glories are those that bloom nocturnally like Ipomoea alba and Ipomoea muricata. Some call them Evening Glories.

To me sweet potatoes are the edible roots of a Morning Glory.
I am not saying that other opinions are wrong, this is just mine on this matter.

I would love to read more about purpurea being crossed with batatas! I am very interested in the science of ipomoea.

I provided the reference material in Private Message, but later when my membership is not so brand new here I will post about the topic of Interspecific and Intergeneric hybridization in the Morning Glory family. This way this thread will not go off-topic.

Entwined said: I provided the reference material in Private Message, but later when my membership is not so brand new here I will post about the topic of Interspecific and Intergeneric hybridization in the Morning Glory family. This way this thread will not go off-topic.

Thank you