THE rOTATO — SAFFORD 515 



])roud was Gerard of possessin^^ this plant that he caused a portrait 

 of himself to be engraA^ed with a flowering branch of it in his hand. 

 This portrait (pi. 1), bearing the date of 1.598, was inserted at the 

 end of the preface to his celebrated work. 



Gerard's misleading statement regarding the source of his potatoes 

 has been discussed by several writers interested in the origin of cul- 

 tivated plants. It has been suggested that his illustration of Sola- 

 nuni tuberosum may have been prepared on the Continent, like many 

 of the other engravings in the Herbal,^'' and it has even been inti- 

 mated that he concealed the real origin of his tubers in order to 

 " mystify the readers of his Herbal." ^^ Whatever maj'^ have been 

 his motive, the effect of his account of Solanum tuberosum^ described 

 and figured under the name "Battata virginiana," or Virginia pota- 

 toes, was to fasten upon a Peruvian plant an English name already 

 belonging to a very distinct species and to mislead posterity into the 

 belief that S. tuberosum had been brought to England from Vir- 

 ginia. The persistence of this error has already been noted. One 

 of the writers above referred to, assuming Heriot's openawk to be 

 the potato, quotes his statement that its tubers were found in " moist 

 and marish grounds," notwithstanding the fact that S. tuberosum, 

 will not grow in moist situations, nor do its tubers resemble those of 

 Glycine apios, which " grow side by side, like beads on a string." 

 Indeed there is no species of tuber-bearing Solanum indigenous to 

 eastern North America; yet the woods are still full of Heriot's 

 openawk. 



Among the earliest legends relating to the potato is that recorded 

 in the minutes of the Royal Society of December 13, 1693, in which 

 it is set down that Sir Robert Southwell, the president of the society, 

 claimed that potatoes were brought into Ireland by his grandfather, 

 who first had them from Sir Walter Raleigh. " This evidence," 

 says Sir Joseph Banks, who seems to have accepted the statement 

 as true, "proves not unsatisfactorily that the potato was first bro'ught 

 to England either in the year 1586 or very soon after, and sent from 

 thence to Ireland without delay by Sir Robert Southwell's ancestor, 

 Avhere it w^as cherished and cultivated for food before the good 

 people of England kncAv its value; for Gerard, who had planted it 

 in his garden in 1597, recommends the roots to be eaten as a delicate 

 dish, not as a common food;" and to this Sir Joseph adds " the name 

 of the root in South America is papas and in Virginia it was called 

 openawk." 



The Raleigh legend can be traced to Doctor AVright of Edinburgh ; 

 it belongs in the same category with the story of George Washing- 



« See W. S. Mitchell, in the Gardeners' Chronicle, N. S., 25 : 533, May 1, 1886. 



" See B, D, .Jackspn, in the G.Trdeners' CTironitle, ThirU Series, 27 : 101, Mar. 10, 1900. 



