194 



DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



or " pepper," is largely used as a condiment for food, especially in hot 

 countries, and is much used in liniments. When mixed with the food of 

 poultry it is said to preserve health and promote the laying of eggs. 



SOIANUM, L. Calyx persistent, 5-parted ; corolla rotate, subcam- 

 panulate ; tube very short ; limb plaited in the bud, 5-cleft, lobed or 

 angular ; anthers erect, connivent, but not united, opening at the top 

 by 2 pores. Fruit a globular berry, 2-celled, many-seeded; seeds 

 small. Flowering in August. Unarmed or prickly herb. 



1. S. tuberosum, L. (Potato. Irish Potato. White Potato. Common Potato.) 

 Stem herbaceous, erect, prostrate, or assurgent, 2 to 4 feet long, angular and 

 branched towards the top, smooth or clothed with soft hairs at and near to the 



extremities. Leaves interruptedly pinnate ; leaflets 

 roundish, petioled, dark green, every alternate 

 pair of leaflets very smaD ; peduncles few-flowered ; 

 flowers blue or white. Rootlets give rise to tubers, 

 globular or lengthened. Fruit a green berry, about 

 the size of an ordinary marble; seeds numerous. 

 Flowers in July and August. Roots giving rise to 

 globular or reniform tubers. Tubers ripen July 

 to October. 



When propagated from the seed, the tubers of 

 the first year are about the size of peas ; the tubers 

 produced by these are much larger, and the pro- 

 duct of the third year is fit for the table. When 

 propagated from the seed, the plant sports freely, 

 and new varieties are thus produced. When the 

 tubers are used to propagate from, the variety is 

 constant. 



There are other allied species, but they have not 

 stood the test of cultivation, on account especially 

 of the small size of their tubers, as follows : — 



2. S. Commersonii, Dunal. Chile. 



3. S. immite, Duual. Peru. 



4. S. verrucosum, Schlechtendal. Mexico. 



These all differ in botanical features as well as in size and quality of their 

 tubers, so much so as to entitle them to a specific character. 



No plant in the whole range of table vegetables has had so large a share of 

 attention from gardeners and amateurs as the potato, and every year new 

 varieties are offered for sale by the seedsmen. 



Geography. — The geographical zone of the potato is between the 35th and 

 50tli parallels, and it even produces well up to 60°. It will grow and fruit well 

 in any latitude where the cereals flourish. 



It yields best in cool, damp climates ; and the edible qualities are best where 

 the plant is grown in rich sandy loam. 



Etymology. — Solatium is of very doubtful derivation. The most plausible 

 history of the word is that it is from the Latin word snlor, solace, or comfort, 

 due to the narcotic effect of some of the plants of this very large genus. 

 • Tuberosum is due to the tuberous character of its products. Potato is a cor- 

 ruption of batata, already explained. The French, from the same source, 

 have made it patate. 



SOLANUM TUBEROSUM 



(Potato). 



