The development of potato varieties in Europe

Summary

HISTORY

The potato was introduced into Europe from South America sometime between 1565 and 1573. It was first grown in Spain but by the early part of the seventeenth century it was found in the botanical gardens of many European states. This was largely due to the efforts of the botanist Charles d'Ecluse, or Clusius, who received two tubers and a fruit from the Prefect of Mons, Philippe de Sivry in 1588, multiplied the tubers and distributed them to a number of friends. The first botanical description of the potato was published by the Swiss botanist, Caspar Bauhin in 1596. Bauhin also gave the potato its Latin binomial, Solanum tuberosum, although he later added esculentum. A second description was published in England, where the potato was probably introduced between 1588 and 1593, by Gerard in his 1597 “Herball”.

The original introductions were almost certainly from the Andean regions of Peru or Columbia and were of the subspecies andigena (hereafter called Andigena potatoes), with a short-day photoperiodic response. Under European conditions they would have produced many stolons but poor yields of late-developing tubers. During the following two centuries, seedlings from these original introductions were selected for yield and earliness, to give rise to clones well adapted to longer summer days. This selection may have been made in hybrids and selfs of only two original introductions (Salaman 1926).