are these flower buds or seeds forming on my purple sweet potato vine?

I see occasional single flowers on my purple sweet potatoes.
Today when I was cutting new growth tips for greens for lunch I saw these...clusters of either flower buds or past flowers on to seeds?

I would have noticed if a cluster of flowers like these had bloomed though.

I'll stop cutting leaf tips for greens now and watch more closely.

what does the seed look like when ripe?

Those are clusters of flowers. They grow much the same as the leaves and roots from the nodes. When I first started I went through the same with a few here and there, then clusters all over one fall. I didn't get any seeds at the time. They are oddly shaped little dark seeds. If you get any they will be after the flowers bloom. It's nice to get outside early and see all the activity around the flowers before the sun starts to beat down on them.

thanks Daniel!

We really only have less than a month before we are likely to get a frost so I guess there's no time for them to make seed now.

I'll check my other patch that I don't take greens from and see if I've missed any flower clusters like these.

How long do you think it takes from flower to seed?

I haven't found many seeds, usually after things had dried up quite a bit. As you can see with the flower clusters, you can easily have a dozen or more flowers per foot of vine. I'd imagine this takes energy away from doing other things, so I don't know if pinching a bunch of them off will help with seed production. Each flower doesn't last too long, so if you did get any it would probably happen in the next couple of weeks.

Hi Judith, yes those do look like flower buds. If they open without aborting, and if the plant is self-compatible or another plant is also blooming nearby you may get pollination. Hand pollination is very easy, if no bees are available. If pollination happens little spherical capsules about the size of a small pea will develop, each with one to four seeds.  

Time is short for them to mature BUT, if you see development, or basically if the flower stem does NOT drop off after the flower fades, then you have a capsule in development. You can get around the issue of time by just clipping off a section of stem and taking it inside to a warm window. You don't really even need to plant it soil, just in a vase with water will do. I've never measured it exactly but I'd guess that outside, flower to seed takes a good month.

Below is what the capsules and seeds look like.

thanks Mark!
now I know what to watch for...I don't remember seeing clusters of buds like these before but I really hadn't been thinking about seeds until recently after reading your thread here.

Interesting that they can finish maturing indoors in water.

I'm hoping our first frost is late this year so the potatoes can put on some more size.