Solanum jamesii
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Solanales
Family: Solanaceae
Genus: Solanum
Species:
S. jamesii
Binomial name
Solanum jamesii
Torr.
Tubers of Solanum jamesii

Solanum jamesii (common names: wild potato or Four Corners potato)[1] is a species of nightshade. Its range includes the southern United States. All parts of the plant, and especially the fruit, are toxic, containing solanine when it matures. The tubers were/are eaten raw or cooked by several Native American tribes,[2][3] but they require leaching and boiling in clay in order to be rendered edible. The tubers are small when compared to familiar varieties of S. tuberosum.[4]

Escalante Valley in Utah boasts the oldest archaeologically documented cultivation sites of the Four Corners potato, dating back over 7,000 years, and the plant is so prevalent there that a former name for the area was "Potato Valley".[5] S. jamesii is sometimes grown in yards or gardens as an ornamental plant, and there have been recent experiments in Escalante, Utah to start growing it as a food vegetable again, making use of the lower-alkaloid cultivars selected by the natives.[6] According to cultivariable.com, "The primary glycoalkaloid in this species is tomatine, unlike the domesticated potato, in which the primary glycoalkaloids are solanine and chaconine."

References

  1. ↑ USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Solanum jamesii". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  2. ↑ "NAEB Text Search". Native American Ethnobotany DB. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  3. ↑ Kinder, David H.; Adams, Karen R.; Wilson, Harry J. (2017). "Solanum jamesii: Evidence for Cultivation of Wild Potato Tubers by Ancestral Puebloan Groups". Journal of Ethnobiology. Society of Ethnobiology. 37 (2): 218. doi:10.2993/0278-0771-37.2.218. S2CID 90864671.
  4. ↑ "The ancient potato of the future". The Counter. 23 November 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  5. ↑ "Utah home to earliest use of wild potato in North America | UNews".
  6. ↑ "Did potato cultivation begin in Utah's Escalante Valley 11,000 years ago?".


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