STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 549 



The potato is mentioned as among the edible products of Japan by Thimberg,' 1776, 

 and its cultivation, says Humboldt,^ has become common. In New Zealand, where it 

 had become common by 1840, the first tubers were left by Captain Cook 1770.^ In China, 

 at the present time, the potato is grown chiefly for consimiption by foreigners and has not 

 foimd favor with the natives.* It is now also grown in the Island of Java, in the Buton, 

 in Bengal and from the extremity of Africa to Labrador, Iceland and Lapland, says 

 Humboldt ^ in 181 1. 



The tOior of the whole history of the potato seems such as to imply that at first its 

 tuber was of such poor quality as not to obtain general liking, that it was only as the qimlity 

 was improved that its acceptance became assured and that it is to the effort of growers 

 that it has secured at the present time a quality that forces universal approval. 



The varieties of the potato are now innvimerable and, while of several distinct types 

 of form and color, are all supposed to have been derived from a common wild progenitor. 

 It is interesting to observe, therefore, that varieties were under ciilture in South America 

 even before the discovery. In a vocabulary of a now extinct tribe, the Chibcha, who once 

 occupied the region about the present Bogota, ten different varieties are identified, one of 

 which, " black inside," has not as yet appeared in modem culture.^ At the present time, 

 Vilmorin ' makes an extremely artificial classification as follows: (i) The round, yellow 

 varieties. (2) The long, yellow varieties. (3) The variegated, long, yellow varieties. 

 (4) The round, red varieties. (5) The flat, pink, or red varieties. (6) The smooth, long, 

 red varieties. (7) The notched, long, red varieties. (8) The violet-colored and variegated 

 varieties. The yellow and red varieties are mentioned by Bauhin,* 1596, as the tawny 

 and the purple. In 1726, Townsend ' mentions the white and the red in England, as does 

 Bryant" in 1783. In 1785, Varlo " describes eight sorts: "the White Round, the Red 

 Round, the Large Irish White Smooth, the Large Roimd Red, the Culgee, the Early-wife, 

 the White Kidney, the Bull's-eye Red." In further description he says " the Jerusalem 

 is long and full of eyes, the Culgee is red on one side, the Early-wife does not blossom 

 and is of a light red, and the Toadback is nearly akin to the large Irish, the skin 

 almost black, and rough like a russetting; the Kidney is oblong, white with a yellowish 

 cast." In 1828, Fessenden says there are many varieties, and, in 1832, Bridgeman says 

 the varieties are very nimierous. In 1848, nearly 100 sorts were exhibited at the 

 Massachusetts Horticiiltural Society in Boston. Decaisne and Naudin give the number 

 of varieties in France in 1815 as 60, in 1855 as 493, in 1862 as 528. 



Thunberg, C. P. Fl. Jap. XLIL 1784. 

 ' Humboldt, A. Polit. Essay New Spain 2: $$2. 181 1. 

 ' Wilkes, C. U. S. Explor. Exped. 2:412. 1845. 

 < Williams, S. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 474. i860. 

 'Humboldt, A. Polit. Essay New Spain 2::i52. 181 1. 



* Card. Chron. 26:720. 1886. 



' Vilmorin Veg. Gard. 443. 1885. 

 'Bauhin, C. Phytopinax 301. 1596. 



Townsend 5ee</ia 23. 1726. 

 " Bryant, C. Fl. Diet. 15. 1783. 

 '^'Vailo Husbandry 2:97. 1785. 



