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Indian Potato (Ipomoea pandurata, Convolvulaceae)—A Record of Confusion1

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Indian Potato ( Ipomoea pandurata , Convolvulaceae)—A Record of Confusion. Once European explorers began sending back plants from distant lands, confusion developed regarding their identities. Among these was Ipomoea pandurata, which native peoples in the eastern United States considered to be a purgative. Unfortunately, edible plants like potatoes were confused with I. pandurata, and by the early 1900s Americans and Europeans began writing that indigenous peoples also ate its roots. The literature for the late 1900s into the 2000s mostly reports that I. pandurata is edible. Although no documented use for food by pre-European cultures in the Americas has been found, the myth persists that the roots were eaten on a regular basis.

Papa del Indio ( Ipomoea pandurata, Convolvulaceae) —Un Registro de una Confusión. Una vez que los exploradores europeos comenzaron a enviar las plantas las Americas, la confusión comenzó con respecto a la identidad de las especies. Las poblaciones indígenas en el este de los Estados Unidos consideraban I. pandurata como una planta medicinal. Lamentablemente, algunas plantas comestibles como la papa también se confundían con I. pandurata, y por principios de los años 1900 los americanos y los europeos empezaron a escribir que las poblaciones indígenas también comían raíces de la misma. La literatura de finales de los 1900 y principios del 2000 dice en general que I. pandurata es comestible. Aunque no se ha encontrado documentación sobre su uso para la alimentación entre las culturas pre-europeas en las Américas, persiste el mito de que la gente comía las raíces regularmente.

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Acknowledgments

I thank Mary-Theresa Bonhage-Freund (anthropologist, Alma College, Michigan), Eckart Eich (chemist, Freie Universitaet, Berlin), Michael McCafferty (linguist, Indiana University), and Paul Minnis (anthropologist, University of Oklahoma) for useful comments on a draft of this paper. Mary Stiffler (Missouri Botanical Garden Library) provided copies of critical literature and bibliographic advice. My friend Alex Velasco-Levy wrote the Spanish abstract translation.

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Austin, D.F. Indian Potato (Ipomoea pandurata, Convolvulaceae)—A Record of Confusion1 . Econ Bot 65, 408–421 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12231-011-9176-x

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