INGROWING SPROUTS OF SOLANUM TUBEROSUM 1 



C. Stuart Gager 



(WITH PLATE XXXVI AND SIX FIGURES) 



Description 



As is well known, it is not at all uncommon to find tuberization 



of the sprouts on potatoes kept over winter in a cellar. The fact 

 is commonly attributed to the absence of light and the dampness 

 of the cellar. In the late fall of 1907, a large basket of potatoes, 

 of the "Green Mountain" variety, was placed, for want of a cellar, 

 m an unheated chamber. There was one east window in the room, 





1 



Figs. 1-3. 



2 



3 



under 



umination 



m0mm9 fig. 2, Young tubers emerging from within an old 



seed tuber of Solatium tuberosum (cf. figs. 1, 4, and 5); fig. 3, Cross-section of a tuber 

 of Solatium tuberosum with ingrown sprouts. 



and the curtain was ordinarily up, so that the room was neither 

 dark nor damp. On the contrary, the atmosphere of the room was 

 comparatively dry. Under these conditions, a number of the 

 potatoes were found with sprouts in various stages of tuberization, 

 varying from a slight enlargement back of the tip to well formed 

 'potatoes" (fig. 1), but in the case of two or three of them, the 



1 Brooklyn Botanic Garden Contributions. No. 5. The substance of this paper 

 was given before the Botanical Society of America on December 29, 191 1. 



V 



Si S ] 



[Botanical Gazette, vol. 54 



