16 THE POTATO. 



Botanical and Common Names. First of all, 



the botanical name of the potato is Solanum tuberosum, 

 pronounced So-la'-num tu-ber-o'-sum. The first, or generic, 

 name is an old Latin word used by Pliny, the great Roman 

 naturalist; and the specific name means tuberous-rooted. 

 The common, or English, name, potato, is derived from 

 the Spanish name patatas. The latter is also the Portu- 

 guese name of the potato, while an almost similar name, 

 patata, is used by the Italians. The French call the potato 

 pomme de terre; the Germans, kartoffel; the Flemish and 

 Dutch, aardaffle; the Danish, jordepeeren ; and the South 

 American, the papas. 



Natural OrderThe potato belongs to the natural 

 order Solanaceae, a family of plants embracing the 

 tobacco, tomato, petunia, nightshade, etc. 



Botanical Features The potato is a tuberous- 

 rooted perennial, has white, lilac, or lavender coloured 

 petals, five stamens, one stigma, and bears globular 

 berries containing from 200 to 300 seeds. The tubers 

 which concern the gardener and farmer most, are subter- 

 ranean stems enlarged by the development to an unusual 

 degree of cellular tissue. In the cells nutriment, in the 

 form of starch, is gradually stored during the season of 

 growth, ready for the sustenance of any future shoots 

 which may develop from the latent buds or eyes, sunk in 

 the surface of the tubers. The food thus stored is first 

 absorbed in a crude state by the roots, then conveyed to 

 the leaves. Here it is joined by the carbonic acid ab- 

 sorbed from the air by the leaves, and then, under the 

 influence of sunlight, the chlorophyll causes the carbon 

 to separate from the oxygen, and to combine with the 

 hydrogen and oxygen of the crude sap, and thus form the 

 starch, which is gradually conveyed down to the enlarged 

 portions of the root, called the tubers. The eyes of a 

 potato tuber are really leaf buds and analogous to those 

 formed on the stems of a plant. 



