350 CULINARY PLANTS. Chap. IX. 



Switzerland^^ by a peculiar and now extinct variety producing 

 very small beans.^^ 



Fvtato {Solcmum tuberosum). — There is little doubt about the 

 parentage of this plant ; for the cultivated varieties dififer extremely 

 little in general appearance from the wild species, which can be 

 recognised in its native land at the first glance.** The varieties 

 cultivated in Britain are numerous; thus Lawson^^ gives a de- 

 scription of 175 kinds. I planted eighteen kinds in adjoining 

 rows ; their stems and leaves differed but little, and in several 

 cases there was as great a difference between the individuals of 

 the same variety as between the diiferent varieties. The flower 

 varied in size, and in colour between white and purple, but in no 

 other respect, except that in one kind the sepals were somewhat 

 elongated. One strange variety has been described which always 

 produces two sorts of flowers, the first double and sterile, the 

 second single and fertile."'^ The fruit or berries also differ, but 

 only in a slight degree.*' The varieties are liable in very different 

 degree to the attack of the Colorado potato-beetle.** 



The tubers, on the other hand, present a wonderful amount of 

 diversity. This fact accords with the principle that the valuable 

 and selected parts of all cultivated productions present the gi-eatest 

 amount of modification. They differ much in size and shape, being 

 globular, oval, flattened, kidney-like, or cylindrical. One variety 

 from Peru is described •'* as being quite straight, and at least six 

 inches in length, though no thicker than a man's finger. The eyes 

 or buds differ in form, position, and colour. The manner in which 

 the tubers are arranged on the so-called roots or rhizomes is 

 different ; thus, in the (jurken-kartoffehi they form a pyramid with 

 the apex downwards, and in another variety they bury themselves 

 deep in the ground. The roots themselves run either near the 

 surface or deep in the ground. The tubers also differ in smoothness 



^- Heer, ' Die Pflan^eo der Fl'ahl- 1845, p. 285. Sabine, in 'Transact, 



auten,' 18i36, s. 22. Hort. Soc.,' vol. v. p. 249. 



*' Mr. Bentham informs me that in '^ 'Synopsis of the Veo-etable 



Poitou and the adjoining parts of Products of Scotland,' quoted in 



France, varieties o( Fhaseolus vulgaris Wilson's 'British Farmins;,' p. 317. 



are extremely numerous, and so dif- '* Sir G. Slackenzie, in ' Gardener's 



ferent that they were described by Savi Chronicle,' 1845, p. 790. 



as distinct species. Mr. Bentham *' Putsche und Vertuch, ' Versuch 



believes that all are descended from einer Monographie der Kartotl'eln,' 



an unknown eastern species. Al- 1819, s. 9, l.i. &e also Dr. Anderson's 



though the varieties differ so greatly ' Recreations in Agriculture,' vol. iv. 



in stature and in their seeds, " there p. 325. 



is a remarkable sameness in the ne- ^' Walsh, 'The American Entomo- 



glected characters of foliage and logist,' 18'59, p. IGO. Also S. Tenney, 



tiowers, and especially in the bra:- ' The American Naturalist,' May, 1871, 



teoles, an insigniticant character in p. 171. 



the eyes even of botanists." " ' Gardener's Chronicle,' 1862, p. 



^■' Darwin, 'Journal of Researches, 1052. 



