The authors established a molecular clock for Convulvulaceae which estimates the Polynesian sweet potato as having diverged from American populations >100,000 years ago. Long distance natural dispersal in Ipomoea occurred in at least two species, I. littoralis and I. tuboides.
Ipomoea tuboides diverged from its sister species Ipomoea leucotricha approx. 1.1 million years ago. https://t.co/xbpsjAGr0N
