250 On the Native Country of the Wild Potatoe, %c. 



trict, now forming part of the United States, it would before 

 this time have been found and recognised, by the botanical 

 collectors, who have traversed and examined those countries. 



From the Baron de Humboldt's observations on the Pota- 

 toe in Mexico,* it seems certain that it is not wild in the 

 south-western part of North America ; nor is it known other- 

 wise than as a garden plant in any of the West India islands. 

 Its existence, therefore, remains to be fixed in South America, 

 and it seems now satisfactorily proved, that it is to be found 

 both in elevated places in the tropical regions, and in the 

 more temperate districts on the western coasts of the south- 

 ern part of that division of the new world. 



According to Molina,+ it grows wild abundantly in the 

 fields of Chili, and in its natural state is called by the natives 

 Maglia, producing, when uncultivated, small and bitter tubers. 

 The Baron de Humboldt asserts,! that it is not indigenous in 

 Peru, nor on any part of the Cordilleras situated under the 

 Tropics. But this statement is contradicted by Mr. Lambert§ 

 on the authority of Don Jose Pavon and of Don Francisco 

 Zea, the former of whom says, that he and his companions, 

 Dombey and Ruiz, had not only gathered the Solanum tube- 

 rosum wild in Chili, but also in Peru, in the environs of Lima ; 

 and the latter has assured Mr. Lambert, that he had found 

 it growing in the forests near Santa Fe de Bogota. The 

 above account of Pavon is further confirmed by the evidence 



* Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain. Black's Edition, Vol. II. 

 page 484. f Hist. Nat. du Chili, p. 102. 



% Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain. Black's edition, Vol. II. 

 page 489. 



§ Journal of Science and the Arts, Vol. X. page 25. 



