Why are sweet potatoes important to North Carolina?

Answer 1

he sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the familyConvolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots are an important root vegetable.[1][2] The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. Of the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of Convolvulaceae, I. batatas is the only crop plant of major importance-some others are used locally, but many are actually poisonous. The sweet potato is only distantly related to the potato (Solanum tuberosum).

Although the soft, orange sweet potato is often mislabeled a yam in parts of North America, the sweet potato is botanically very distinct from a genuine yam, which is native to Africa and Asia and belongs to the monocot family Dioscoreaceae. To prevent confusion, the United States Department of Agriculture requires sweet potatoes labeled as "yams" to be labeled also as "sweet potatoes".[3]

The genus Ipomoea that contains the sweet potato also includes several garden flowers called morning glories, though that term is not usually extended to Ipomoea batatas. Some cultivars of Ipomoea batatas are grown as ornamental plants; the name "tuberous morning glory" may be used in a horticultural context.

The plant is a herbaceous perennial vine, bearing alternate heart-shaped or palmately lobed leaves and medium-sized sympetalous flowers. The edible tuberous root is long and tapered, with a smooth skin whose color ranges between yellow, orange, red, brown, purple, and beige. Its flesh ranges from beige through white, red, pink, violet, yellow, orange, and purple. Sweet potato varieties with white or pale yellow flesh are less sweet and moist than those with red, pink or orange flesh.[4]

In certain parts of the world, sweet potatoes are locally known as camote, kamote, goguma, man thet, ubi jalar, ubi keladi, shakarkand, satsuma imo, batata or el boniato.[5]

Answer 2

Because its always been there tradition

Answer 3

money