POSOQUERIA 



POTATO 



2767 



ovary 1-2-celled: berry ovoid, rather large, fleshy. 

 About 15 species in Trop. Amer. 



longifldra, Aubl. (sometimes erroneously written P. 

 longifolia). A handsome free-flowering bush 5-8 ft. 

 high: Ivs. oblong, acuminate, narrowed at the base, 

 thick and shining: fls. 12 or more in a cluster, 3-5 in. 

 long, waxy white, very fragrant, the slender tube 

 curved, hairy in the throat. French Guiana. Prop. 

 ly cuttings of ripening wood. 



densiflora, Hutchins. Evergreen few-branched shrub: 

 Ivs. ovate-elliptic, apex subacute or short-acumi- 

 nate, base rounded or sometimes slightly cuneate: 

 fis. in a congested corymb, short-peduncled; calyx 

 deeph- 5-lobed; corolla white, then yellow, the very 

 long slender tube densely villous at mouth; stamens 

 5, at first connate then spreading. Brazil. G.C. III. 

 57:307. 



micropus, Mart. Branches terete: Ivs. long-petioled, 

 linear- or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, base acute or 

 rounded: infl. many-fld., corymbose; fls. sessile or sub- 

 sessile; calyx pilose outside; corolla-tube elongate, 

 slender, with a papillose mouth; lobes of limb somewhat 

 acute; ovary turbinate. Brazil. G.C. III. 57:313. 



multifldra, Lem. Small tree: Ivs. broad oval-oblong, 

 base subcordate-rounded, apex abrupt acute-mucro- 

 nate: infl. many-fld., in terminal subumbellate cymes; 

 fls. long-tubed, white, erect, very fragrant and large; 

 calyx small; corolla with 5 oblong lobes, the tips cucul- 

 late-rounded. Brazil. I.H. 16:597. G.L. 26 : 266. This 

 species has been recently referred to P. macropus. 



F. TRACT HUBBAKD. 



POTAMOGETON (from Greek words signifying 

 that these are river plants). Naiadacese. POXDWEED. 

 Fig. 640, p. 548. A rather large genus (about 100 spe- 

 cies) of aquatic plants in temperate and sometimes in 

 tropical regions, a few of which are sometimes grown in 

 aquaria and ponds. Nearly 40 species are native to N. 

 Amer. They are weedy plants, attaching themselves to 

 the bottom in ponds, lake margins and in shallow 

 streams, and holding their small spikes of inconspicuous 

 fls. above the water in midsummer. In many of the spe- 

 cies there are two kinds of Ivs., the narrow submerged 

 ones and the broad floating ones. The small perfect fls. 

 have 4 greenish perianth-segrns., 4 stamens, and usu- 

 ally 4 sessile 1-ovuled ovaries: fr. a nutlet with a 

 coiled or hooked embryo. The potamogetons are very 

 difficult plants for the systematic botanist, and it is 

 not worth while to describe any of the species here. 

 There is none which is generally known in the trade. 

 They are likely to be weeds in lily-ponds. For the 

 American species, see Morong., Mem. Torr. Club 3, 

 No. 2; also Pflanzenreich, hft. 31. Three species have 

 come into slight notice in American gardens: P. crispus, 

 Linn., and P. natans, Linn., natives, and P. densus, 

 Linn., European. Easily grown. j^ H. B. 



POTATO. One of the most widely utilized and val- 

 uable of esculent tubers, produced underground as 

 thickened stems. It is commonly known as the "Irish," 

 "white," or "round" potato to distinguish it from the 

 sweet potato; botanically it is Solanum tuberosum. See 

 Solanum. 



The potato is one of the most universally cultivated 

 plants of the United States and Canada, and it is 

 becoming increasingly important as an article of human 

 food. It ranks sixth in agricultural importance in the 

 United States. This country produces, however, only 

 about one-fifth as much as Germany. This is due to the 

 fact that the German consumption of potatoes per 

 capita is about two and a half times as great as ours, 

 and that more than 50 per cent of the German crop is 

 used either for stock-food or for conversion into starch, 

 alcohol, or other industrial by-products. Potatoes, at 

 present, are used very little for these purposes in this 

 country, less than 1 per cent being so used. 



The potato is closely allied, botanically, to several 

 powerful narcotics, such as tobacco, henbane, and bella- 

 donna, and also to tomato, eggplant, and capsicum. 

 Potatoes contain a small amount of a somewhat poison- 

 ous substance. When exposed to the direct rays of the 

 sun and "greened," the deleterious substance is so 

 greatly increased that the water in which they are 

 boiled is not infrequently used to destroy vermin on 

 domestic animals. In any case, the water in which 

 potatoes are cooked should not be used in the prepara- 

 tion of other foods. 



The potato is a native of the elevated valleys of 

 Chile, Peru, and Mexico, and a form of it is found in 

 southern Colorado. It probably was carried to Spain 

 from Peru early in the sixteenth century. It seems to- 

 have been introduced into Europe as early as 1565. 

 Sir Walter Raleigh, in 1585, is said to have brought 

 back the potato from the "new country." Recent 

 investigations, however, seem to give the credit of 

 introducing the potato into England to Sir Francis 

 Drake, in 1586. As Batatas virginiana, it was figured 

 and described by Gerarde in 1597. It is probable that 

 these circumstances led erroneously to giving the credit 

 of introducing the potato to Raleigh instead of to Sir 

 John Hawkins. The wild varieties in their native 

 habitat still bear a close resemblance to cultivated 

 varieties except for the enlarged vine and abnormal 

 development of the tubers in the latter. In the seven- 

 teenth century the potato was cultivated in gardens in 

 several European countries. It was recommended by 

 the Royal Society of London in 1663 ior introduction 

 into Ireland as a safeguard against famine. The culti- 

 vation of the potato as a field crop became somewhat 

 common in Germany soon after 1772, at which tune 

 the grain-crops failed and potatoes were a welcome 

 substitute for the bread-corn. It was near the middle 

 of the eighteenth century before it acquired any real 

 importance in Europe, outside of Ireland and a few 

 restricted localities in other countries. As late as 1771 

 only a white and red variety were mentioned in one of 

 the most important English works on gardening. The 



3152. Underground parts of potato plant, showing the fibrous 

 roots and the stems ending in tubers. The old seed-piece is seen 

 near the bottom. 



plants were enormously productive, but the tubers 

 were poor in quality, so poor in fact that their chief 

 use was as a food for domestic animals; and only when 

 the bread-corns failed were they used to any extent, 

 and even then only as a substitute. By 1840 the potato 

 had been largely substituted in Ireland for the cereals 

 and other similar food-crops, as the yield of potatoes in 

 weight exceeded by twenty to thirty times the yield 

 of wheat, barley, or oats on an equal area of land. 

 This large dependence on a single food-crop finally 

 resulted in a wide-spread famine. The potato blight 

 which appeared in the United States in 1845 devastated 

 Ireland in 1846. During two years, 1846 and 1847, a 

 conservative estimate places the numbers who perished 

 for want of food or from diseases caused by a meager 



