314 SELECT PLANTS FOR INDUSTRIAL CULTURE 



Solanum Quitoense, La Marck. 



Ecuador, Peru. A shrubby plant. The berries resemble 

 small oranges in size colour, and taste, and are of a peculiar 

 fragrance. To this the S. Plumierii (Dun.), from the West 

 Indian Islands, is also cognate, and the S. Topiro (Kunth), 

 from the Orinoco. 



Solanum torvum, Swartz. 



From West India to Peru. A shrubby species with yellow 

 spherical berries of good size, which seem also wholesome. 

 Other species from tropical America have shown themselves 

 sufficiently hardy for inducing us to recommend the test 

 culture of such kinds of plants. Many of them are highly 

 curious and ornamental. 



Solanum tuberosum, Linne.* 



The Potato. Andes of South America, particularly of Chili, 

 but not absolutely trans-equatorial, as it extends into Colum- 

 bia. It is also wild in the Argentine territory. As a starch 

 plant, the Potato interests us on this occasion particularly. 

 Considering its prolific yield in rich soil, we possess as yet too 

 few factories for potato starch. The latter, by being heated 

 with mineral acids or malt, can be converted into dextrin and 

 dextro-glucose for many purposes of the arts. Dextrin, as a 

 substitute for gum, is also obtainable by subjecting potato- 

 starch in a dry state to a heat of 400 F. Alcohol may be 

 largely produced from the tubers. The berries and shoots 

 contain solanin. Baron von Liebig remarks, " So far as its 

 foliage is concerned, it is a lime plant ; as regards its tuber, a 

 potash plant/' Langethal says, " It surpasses in easy range 

 of cultivation all other root crops. Its culture suppresses 

 weeds and opens up the soil, besides preparing the land for 

 cereals." Seeds of the Potato berries should be sown in 

 adapted places by explorers of new countries. The most for- 

 midable potato disease of the last thirty years from the Pero- 

 nospora infestans seems to have originated from the use of 

 objectionable kinds of guano, with the introduction of which 

 the murrain was contemporaneous. 



Solanum Uporo, Dunal. 



In many of the islands of the Pacific Ocean. The large, red, 

 spherical berries of this shrub can be used like Tomato. 

 Proved hardy at Port Phillip. 



Solanum vescum, F. v. Mueller. 



The Gunyang. South-East Australia. A shrub yielding edible 



