THE POTATO OF ROMANCE AND OF EEALITY 



By William E. SjVJFord 



[With 12 plates] 



The early history of Solanum tuberosum is obscured by conflicting 

 stories, many of which must be relegated to the sphere of romance. 

 In the United States, this plant is commonly called the " Irish po- 

 tato " ; but it is only a potato by analogy and Irish by adoption. 

 The true or original potato is the lyomoea batatas (pi. 2), which we 

 now call "sweet potato," a plant belonging to the Convolvulus or 

 morning-glory family ; the " Irish potato " belongs to the Solanum 

 or nightshade family, of evil repute, many of whose members have 

 poisonous or narcotic properties. The name potato is scarcely more 

 applicable to it than " pig " to guinea pig or " dog " to prairie dog, 

 3^et this is the only name by which it is laiown to English-speaking 

 people. The French call it " pomme de terre," or earth apple ; the 

 Spanish " papas," its original name ; the Germans " Erdapfel," 

 " Erdbirne," " Grundbirne," or " Kartoffel," the last word a modifi- 

 cation of " Tartuffel " or truffle. 



THE POTATO OF ROMANCE 



For the application of the name potato to Solanum tuberosum^ as 

 well as for the erroneous statements regarding its origin, the respon- 

 sibility must be charged to John Gerard, who in 1597 figured and 

 described it under the title of " Potatoes of Virginia — Battata Vir- 

 ginians sive Virginianorum <& Paffus?'' His illustrations (fig. 1) 

 and description show that his plant was, indeed, Solanum tuberosum^ 

 but he follows his description with the statement that "it groweth 

 naturally in America, where it was discovered, as reporteth C. Clu- 

 sius; since which time I have received roots thereof from Virginia, 

 otherwise called Norembega, which growe and prosper in 1113^ gar- 

 den, as in their own native countrie." - To this he adds " the In- 



* Reprinted by permission, slightly abridged, from The Journal of Heredity, Vol. XVI, 

 No. 4, April, 1925. 



= The Herball or General Ilistorie of Plantos, gathered by John Gerarde of London, 

 Master of Chirurgerie. p. 781. 1507. 



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