THE NATIVE COUNTRY 01' THE POTATO. 
123 
to constitute a condition, or stage of existence, of certain species 
of 8phceria, it is most unreasonable and most unphilosophical to 
affirm in such strong and positive language that “the genus 
Cladosporium includes plants which all belong to the Ascomyeetes” 
This has not been proved ; in the majority of cases there is not 
the slightest evidence of its truth,' and it is contrary to the interests 
of science to make such sweeping and positive assumptions simply 
and solely on the faith of affinities and analogies. 
XIX.—The Xative Country of the Potato. 
By W. B. Hemsley, A.L.S. 
[Read at Meeting of the Scientific Committee, 4th June, 1878.] 
This subject has recently been revived by M. Andre in the “ Illus¬ 
tration Horticole,” where he states that during his travels in South 
America he discovered Solanun tuberosum in a wild state, and appa¬ 
rently indigenous, both in Peru and Columbia. M. Andre seems 
to be under the impression that he was the first “to prove ” that 
Humboldt was wrong in his assertion that the Potato was not a 
native of these countries; but in this he is wrong, having over¬ 
looked more than one record in English publications. To these 
records I shall briefly refer, and add some of the more interesting 
localities of the specimens in Kew Herbarium. Aylmer Bourke 
Lambeit (“Journal of Science and the Arts,” x., p. 25) states, on 
the authority of Buiz and Pavon, that they had found it near Lima 
and in the forests near Santa Fe de Bogota. In 1822 Joseph 
Sabine, at that time secretary to this Society, read a paper before 
the Society on the native country of the Potato, which was pub¬ 
lished in the “Transactions,” vol. v., p. 249. This paper is 
illustrated by a plain figure of Solanum Commersonii and a coloured 
figure of a presumed variety of 8. tuberosum , raised in the Society’s 
garden from tubers received from Chili, and the author’s object is 
to show that S. tuberosum is wild in Chili, and that the wild 
Potato of the eastern side of the continent is a different species— 
namely, 8. Commersonii. In, 1847 our President, Sir Joseph Hooker 
(“ Flora Antarctica,” vol. ii., p. 329), classified the wild specimens 
of Potato plants then existing in the Hookerian Herbarium under 
Solanum tuberosum and 8. Commersonii , with remarks on their dis¬ 
tribution and the difficulty of determining whether they should be 
referred to one or more species. He also hints at the possibility 
