Return to Wild Potato Index

Purchase seeds or tubers of Solanum schenckii

---

Description

Solanum schenckii is a woodland species from central Mexico.  Plants roughly 12 to 18 inches tall.  Flowers violet to purple.  Berries long and ovoid, green with white or lighter green spots.

The specific epithet, schenckii, honors Heinrich Schenck, who first collected the species.  While there is no completely standardized pronunciation for scientific names, the most common way to pronounce this species is probably so-LAY-num SHENK-ee-eye.

Resistances

Vega (1995) found that this species is more frost tolerant than domesticated potato.

Condition	Type	Level of Resistance	Source
Alternaria solani (Early Blight)	Fungus	Somewhat resistant	Jansky 2008
Globodera pallida (Pale Cyst Nematode)	Invertebrate	Somewhat resistant	Castelli 2003
Globodera rostochiensis (Potato Cyst/Golden Nematode)	Invertebrate	Somewhat resistant	Castelli 2003
Pectobacterium carotovorum (Blackleg/Soft Rot)	Bacteria	Somewhat resistant	Chung 2011
Phytophthora infestans (Late Blight)	Fungus	Some resistance	Karki 2020
Potato Virus Y (PVY)	Virus	Not resistant	Cai 2011
Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (White Mold)	Fungus	Resistant	Jansky 2006

Glykoalkaloid content

Images

Breeding

Jackson (1999) found 4-5% 2n pollen in varieties of this species.

Crosses with S. tuberosum

Female	Male	Berry Set	Seed Set	Germ	Ploidy	Source
S. tuberosum	S. schenckii	None	None			Jackson (1999)
S. schenckii	S. tuberosum	Low	Low			Jackson (1999)

Crosses with other species

Female	Male	Berry Set	Seed Set	Germ	Ploidy	Source

References

Solanum schenckii at Solanaceae Source

Solanum schenckii at GRIN Taxonomy