CHAPTER XLII 



BOTANY, PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL COMPOSI- 

 TION OF THE POTATO 



THE potato (Solanum tuberosum) belongs to 

 the Solanum or Nightshade family. (Sola- 

 men is a Latin word meaning soothing or 

 quieting.) In Bailey's "Encyclopedia of Horti- 

 culture," published by the Macmillan Company, 

 New York, it is technically described as follows: 



"Solanum, giving name to the family Solana- 

 ceae, is a vast genus of temperate and tropical 

 herbs, shrubs and even trees, but is comparatively 

 poorly represented in temperate North America. 

 Dunal, the latest monographer, in 1852 recognized 

 901 species, and many species have been de- 

 scribed since that time. The genus finds its great- 

 est extension in tropical America. Of the vast 

 number of species barely 25 are of much account 

 horticulturally, and half that number will com- 

 prise all the species that are popularly well known. 

 One of these is the Potato, Solanum tuberosum, 

 one of the leading food plants of the human race. 

 The genus seems to abound in plants with toxic 

 properties, although its bad reputation in this re- 

 spect is probably exaggerated. 



"As a genus, Solanum is not easily separated 

 from other genera, but some of its most desig- 

 native characters are as follows : Leaves alternate : 

 inflorescence mostly sympodial and therefore super- 



521 



