The Herbarium
Part XII · Lookalikes
Field pair
Cassava for a sweet potato
Cassava and Sweet potato — take this sheet to the bed, not a guess to the kettle.
Toxic mix-upKitchen
Cassava for a sweet potato
Two tropical roots. One is a breakfast. Bitter cassava is cyanogenic until it is prepared correctly — not a casual swap.
Sweet potato is a morning-glory vine with milk and a tapered storage root. Cassava is a shrub with palmate leaves and a long, barky tuber. Do not cook an unknown tropical root as if it were a yam.
The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.