I spoke too soon about that Smithsonian article on the potato.
In 2008 a Lebanese farmer dug up a potato that weighed nearly 25 pounds. It was bigger than his head.
It was indeed bigger than his head, and nearly 25 pounds in weight, but it looks like Ipomoea batatas to me. Why is it that people think any crop that grows below ground must be Solanum tuberosum? Even when it’s a sweet potato or an oca.
No question that’s a sweet potato. And mistaken identity is how its name, batatas, got transfered to a solanaceous tuber in the first place.
So the news is that a sweet potato is not some kind of a potato? I understood the problem with oca, but now I am confused.