ARS | Publication request: Solanum stipuloideum Rusby, the correct name for Solanum circaeifolium Bitter

Submitted to: American Journal of Potato Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: February 12, 2013
Publication Date: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Solanum is one of the largest plant genera, containing in excess of 1000 species, including the economically valuable crops potato and tomato. Potato contains four cultivated Solanum species and about 100 wild Solanum species. The genus Solanum has been the subject of intensive taxonomic research in recent years, stimulated by a large grant from the US National Science Foundation, termed Solanaceae Source, which brought together international experts in this genus. This coordinated effort helped uncover many species names not known before and helped associate them with the correct plants. We here highlight one of these names, technically called Solanum stipuloideum, which was never known to be a wild potato, but was thought to belong to another group of Solanum species. Solanum stipuloideum is the correct name for a well-known wild Bolivian wild potato species, formally known as Solanum circaeifolium. Because this latter name is frequently used in the literature we here present a taxonomic treatment of S. stipuloideum with complete synonymy in order to clarify the names of this wild potato. This discovery also highlights the value of genus-wide taxonomic treatments.

Technical Abstract: Solanum L. section Petota Dumort., which includes the cultivated potato (S. tuberosum L.) and its wild relatives, has been the subject of intensive taxonomic research in the last 25 years. The last comprehensive taxonomic treatment by Hawkes in 1990 recognized seven cultivated and 225 wild species, yet the latest estimate is four cultivated and about 100 wild species. These changes have all involved synonymy of preexisting names, but our intensive nomenclatural research in the mega-diverse Solanum (1000+ species) revealed a name, Solanum stipuloideum Rusby, that has never been recognized as belonging to a potato and that is the earlier valid name for the species long known as Solanum circaeifolium Bitter. Because this latter name is frequently used in the literature we here present a taxonomic treatment of S. stipuloideum with complete synonymy in order to clarify nomenclature and species circumscription for this common species; this study also highlights the value of genus-wide taxonomic treatments.