Discovery of wild tetraploid sweetpotatoes

Publication Type:Journal Article
Year of Publication:1993
Authors:Bohac, Austin, Jones
Journal:Economic Botany
Volume:47
Pagination:193-201
Keywords:Ipomoea section Batatas, phylogeny, sweetpotatoes, tetraploids
Abstract:

Specimens in the germplasm collection at the U. S. Vegetable Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Charleston, SC, were studied to examine phylogenetic relations of the tetraploid accessions in Ipomoea section Batatas. This collection contains tetraploids from a wide geographic range and most were tentatively identified by the collector as I. trifida. This study shows that corolla and sepal traits may be used to distinguish the tetraploids from know specimens of I. trifida (diploid) and I. batatas (hexaploid). All but one tetraploid accession examined (CH67.50) had corolla tubes and sepals shaped like I. batatas and more closely resembled that species than I. trifida. Use of corolla tube diameter allowed the hexaploid I. batatas and tetraploid accession to be distinguished from I. trifida because the corolla tubes were wider immediately above the calyx. Differences in sepal shape were quantified using the angle at the sepal apex. This angle was consistently obtuse in the I. batatas hexaploids and the tetraploids, but was acute in the I. trifida accessions. Due to similarities in sepal and corolla traits, these tetraploids should be reidentified as tetraploid I. batatas, a cytological race of the hexaploid I. batatas (the sweetpotato).

Alternate Journal:Econ. Bot.
Fri, 2011-05-20 10:23 -- Esmond
http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/23fae7ceaa50619ce7ef9c7d4922f7b2.jpg?d=https%3A//convolvulaceae.myspecies.info/sites/all/modules/contrib/gravatar/avatar.png&s=100&r=G
Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith