Sweet potato fries - photo by Angela Boyko on Flickr -
noncommercial use permitted with attribution / share alike

North Carolina is the largest producer of sweet potatos in the U.S., harvesting over four billion pounds of the vegetable in 1989. The sweet potato is high in vitamins A and C and low in fat.

There are about 50 genera and more than 1000 species of this family, but only Ipomoea batatas is a crop plant (grown as an important root vegetable). The genus Ipomoea also includes several garden flowers called morning glories (the blossom of the sweet potato looks very much like a morning glory):

Sweet potato plant in bloom - photo by Danielm on Wikipedia - published under terms of the GNU Free Documentation License Version 1.2 or later

Candied sweet potatoes - photo courtesy Ontario recipe photos