1. Dr. Francisco Hernández (1515−1587), King Phillip II's chief medical officer in the Spanish colonies in the New World (1570−1577), was the first trained scientist to gather ethnobotanical information directly from Aztec healers and to assess the medicinal usefulness of the natural resources found in the central area of Mexico. He described the nutritious properties and the manner of cultivation of “cacamotli”and mentioned four varieties named long ago on the basis of their skin and flesh colors: “The root is sometimes red on the outside and white inside, and is called “acamotli”. If the outer skin is purple and the inner part white, it is called “ihaicamotli”. If the outside is white and the inside yellow with a reddish tinge, it is called “xochicamotli”. There are times when both the inside and the outside are red or completely white, and then it is called “camocpalcamotli” or “poxcauhcamotli”: names bestowed many centuries ago according to the variety of the colors.” In contemporary Mexico and Brazil, there are four cultivated varieties recognized by their different skin colors: white, yellow, red, and purple. See: Hernández, F.The Mexican Treasury: The Writings ofDr. Francisco Hernández; Varey, S., Ed.; Stanford University Press: Stanford, 2000; p 184.
2. The awareness of the role played by the sweet potato in Europe was not properly appreciated until recently due partially to a linguistic confusion perpetuated by herbals. Whereas the native word “batata” and “patata” were used in Spanish to indicate the sweet potato and the common one, respectively, in English they were joined together under the word “potato”, which was used to indicate both species. Perhaps, the best known reference reinforcing this confusion comes from John Gerard'sGeneral History ofPlants(1597), where he asserted an Andean origin to the sweet potato (Sisarum peruvianum) while claiming that the ordinary potato originated in the English colony of Virginia (Battata virginiana). The potato that William Shakespeare mentions in theMerry Wives of Windsoris the sweet potato. See: Gerard, J.The Herbal or General History of Plants; Dover: New York, 1975; pp 925−928.