Scientific Name: Ipomoea batatas Linn.

Description:
- A herbaceous vine with alternate heart-shaped or palmately lobed leaves and sympetalous flowers. The edible root is long and tapered with a smooth skin of varying colors from red, purple, brown and white. The flesh varies from white, orange, purple and yellow.
- Relative of kangkong and morning glory. Some cultivars are grown as ornamental plants.
- A crop plant with sweet tasting tuberous roots
- Viney annual with a milky juice.
- Leaves have entire or irregular margins.
- Perfect flowers about 5 cm long, funnel-shaped, purple, self-sterile, and rarely producing seeds.
- 5 stamens of different lengths attached to corolla (epipetalous) with hairy filaments.
- 5-celled ovary enveloped with dense white hairs, surrounded with a yellow nectary disk that terminates into prominent spongy white stigma.
- Stems or runners, sprawling several meters long, take root when in contact with soil.
- Produces fleshy roots that are ready for harvest in 4-8 months provided leaves are not regularly pruned or topped.
- Leafy stems and roots are vegetative propagules.

Traditional Uses:

• Tops, especially purplish ones, used for diabetes.
• Crushed leaves applied to boils and acne.
• For diarrhea: Boiled or boiled roots.
• Dengue
• Like gatas-gatas (Euphorbia hirta), there have been anecdotal reports of the use of Ipomoea batatas in dengue, with improvement in platelet counts being attributed to decoctions of kamote tops.
• Preparation: kamote tops are boiled in wate for 5 minutesr to extract the juice

Excerpts from: "An illustrated compilation of Philippine medicinal plants by Godofredo Stuart"