52 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



the heights as we follow the chain of the Andes, and the 

 cultivation of the potato is of ancient date in the tem- 

 perate regions of Peru, but the wild character of the 

 species there is not so entirely proved as in the case of 

 (Jliili.^ Pavon declared he found it on the coast at 

 Chancay, and near Lima. The heat of these districts 

 seems very great for a species which requires a temperate 

 or even a rather cold climate. Moreover, the specimen 

 in Boissier's herbarium, gathered by Pavon, belongs, ac- 

 cording to Dunal,^ to another species, to which he has 

 given the name of S. iinmite. I have seen the authentic 

 specimen, and have no doubt that it belongs to a species 

 distinct from the 8. tuberosum. Sir W. Hooker ^ speaks 

 of McLean's specimen, gathered in the hills round Lima, 

 without any information as to whether it was found wild. 

 The specimens (more or less wild) which Matthews sent 

 from Peru to Sir W. Hooker belonfx, accordino; to Sir 

 Joseph/ to varieties which differ a little from the true 

 potato. Mr. Hemsley,^ who has seen them recently in 

 the herbarium at Kew, believes them to be " distinct 

 forms, not more distinct, however, than certain varieties 

 of the species." 



Weddell,^ whose caution in this matter we already 

 know, expresses himself as follows: "I have never 

 found Solammi tuberosum in Peru under such circum- 

 stances as left no doubt that it was indigenous; and I 

 even declare that I do not attach more belief to the wild 

 nature of other plants found scattered on the Andes 

 outside Chili, hithei-to considered as indigenous." 



On the other hand, M. Ed. Andr^'' collected with 

 great care, in two elevated and wild districts of Columbia, 

 and in another near Lima, specimens which he believed 

 he might attribute to >S'. tuberosum. M. Andre has been 

 kind enough to lend them to me. I have compared 

 them attentively with the types of Dunal's species in 



' Ruiz and Pavon, Flora Peruviana, ii. p. 38. 



* Dunal, Prodromus, xiii., sect. i. p. 22. 



' Hooker, Bat. iliscelL, ii. * Hooker, Fl. Antarctica, 



* Journal Hort. Soc, new series, toI. v. 



* Weddell, Chloris Andina, p. 103. 



' Andre, in Illustraiion UortiroJe, 1877, p. 114. 



