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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Madison, Wisconsin » Vegetable Crops Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #228860
Title: Wild and Cultivated Potato (Solanum sect. Petota) Escaped and Persistent Outside of its Natural Range

Author
item SIMON, REINHARD - INTL POTATO CNTR LIMA
item CONGHUA, XIE - HUAZHONG AG UNIV WUHAN
item CLAUSEN, ANDREA - ESTACION EXP AG-BALCARC
item Jansky, Shelley
item Halterman, Dennis
item CONNOR, TONY - LINCOLN UNIV-CANTERBURY
item SYMON, DAVID - STATE HERB S AUTRAILIA
item Spooner, David

Submitted to: Invasive Plant Science and Management
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/14/2010
Publication Date: 7/1/2010
Citation: Simon, R., Conghua, X., Clausen, A., Jansky, S.H., Halterman, D.A., Connor, T., Symon, D., Spooner, D.M. 2010. Wild and Cultivated Potato (Solanum sect. Petota) Escaped and Persistent Outside of its Natural Range. Journal of Invasive Plant Science and Management. 3:286-293.

Interpretive Summary: Wild potatoes contain about 110 species that are native to the Americas from the southwestern United States to central Chile and adjacent Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and southern Brazil. Cultivated potato is native to the Americas in the Andes Mountains from western Venezuela south to northern Argentina, with disjunct populations in the lowlands of south-central Chile. Cultivated potato was first exported outside of its native range into the Canary Islands in 1567 and was rapidly adopted as a major food crop worldwide. Neither wild nor cultivated potato is known to spread outside of its native range. This paper reports, however that one of the 110 wild species, technically known as Solanum chacoense, has become established in seven sites around the world, in eastern China, England, New Zealand, the eastern United States, central Peru, and east-central Argentina. We also report two places where the cultivated potato, Solanum tuberosum, has become established in Hawaii and southern and east-central Africa. This paper uses a technique called environmental modeling to show many other places where Solanum chacoense might spread. A literature review reveals that although Solanum chacoense possesses traits typical of an invasive species, all populations presently appear to be contained near their site of introduction.

Technical Abstract: Wild potato (Solanum section Petota) contains about 110 species that are native to the Americas from the southwestern United States to central Chile and adjacent Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and southern Brazil. Landrace populations of the cultivated potato, Solanum tuberosum, are native to the Americas in the Andes Mountains from western Venezuela south to northern Argentina, with disjunct populations in the lowlands of south-central Chile. Cultivated potato was first exported outside of its native range into the Canary Islands in 1567 and was rapidly adopted as a major food crop worldwide. However, like many crops, it is rarely persistent in the wild. We report the occurrence of naturalized populations of the wild potato S. chacoense in seven sites in southern Australia, eastern China, England, New Zealand, the eastern United States, central Peru, and east-central Argentina. We also report disjunct naturalized populations of the cultivated potato S. tuberosum in Hawaii and southern and east-central Africa. Modeling similar climatic niches based on a database of S. chacoense from South America shows that observations of S. chacoense overlap with predicted areas. A literature review reveals that although S. chacoense possesses traits typical of an invasive species, all populations presently appear to be contained near their site of introduction.