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Purchase seeds or tubers of Solanum iopetalum

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Description

Solanum iopetalum is a widespread species from central to southern Mexico.  Plants roughly one to two feet tall.  Flowers white to violet.  Berries conical.

The specific epithet, iopetalum, means “purple petalled,” referring to the generally low growing habit of this species.  It is formed from the Greek words “ios,” for “purple,” and “petalon,” for “petal.”  While there is no completely standardized pronunciation for scientific names, the most common way to pronounce this species is probably so-LAY-num eye-oh-PET-uh-lum.

Resistances

This species can survive frosts down to 26 degrees F (-3.5 C) (Li 1977, as S. brachycarpum).  Vega (1995) found that this species is less frost tolerant than domesticated potato.

Condition	Type	Level of Resistance	Source
Alternaria solani (Early Blight)	Fungus	Not resistant	Jansky 2008
Drought	Abiotic	Somewhat resistant	Machida-Hirano 2015 (as S. brachycarpum)
Frost	Abiotic	Somewhat resistant	Machida-Hirano 2015 (as S. brachycarpum)
Globodera pallida (Pale Cyst Nematode)	Invertebrate	Not resistant	Castelli 2003
Globodera rostochiensis (Potato Cyst/Golden Nematode)	Invertebrate	Somewhat resistant	Castelli 2003
Heat	Abiotic	Somewhat resistant	Machida-Hirano 2015 (as S. brachycarpum)
Meloidogyne spp. (Root Knot Nematode)	Invertebrate	Somewhat resistant	Machida-Hirano 2015 (as S. brachycarpum)
Pectobacterium carotovorum (Blackleg/Soft Rot)	Bacteria	Not resistant	Chung 2011
Phytophthora infestans (Late Blight)	Fungus	Resistant	Gonzales 2002
Phytophthora infestans (Late Blight)	Fungus	Not resistant	Bachmann-Pfabe 2019
Phytophthora infestans (Late Blight)	Fungus	Some resistance	Karki 2020
Potato Virus X (PVX)	Virus	Somewhat resistant	Machida-Hirano 2015 (as S. brachycarpum)
Potato Virus Y (PVY)	Virus	Somewhat resistant	Cai 2011
Synchytrium endobioticum (Wart)	Fungus	Somewhat resistant	Machida-Hirano 2015 (as S. brachycarpum)

Glykoalkaloid content

Sarquis (2000) measured the total glycoalkaloid content of tubers of an accession of this species at 76.2 mg / 100g, a level almost four times the safety limit.

Images

Cultivation

I have found seeds of this species easy to germinate using the standard conditions for S. tuberosum.  The USDA potato genebank has observed that germination of some accessions of this species is inhibited by GA3 (Bamberg 1999).  Bamberg (2018) found that alternating temperatures decreased germination in this species.

Towill (1983) found that seeds of this species stored at 1 to 3 degrees C germinated at 100% after 19 years.

Accessions Evaluated

The following accessions were examined to prepare this profile.  I have evaluated 4/58 accessions currently available from the US potato genebank.

PI 251721

Poor germination, but strong seedling growth.

PI 498021

Intermediate and irregular germination and strong seedling growth.

PI 558427

Intermediate germination and strong seedling growth.

PI 607854

Poor, irregular germination and slow seedling growth.

Breeding

Crosses with S. tuberosum

Female	Male	Berry Set	Seed Set	Ploidy	Germ	Source
S. iopetalum (as S. iopetalum and S. brachycarpum)	S. tuberosum	Moderate	Moderate			Jackson (1999)
S. tuberosum	S. iopetalum	Low	High			Jackson (1999)
S. tuberosum	S. iopetalum (as S. brachycarpum)	None	None			Jackson (1999)

Crosses with other species

Watanabe (1991) found that 9.3% of varieties of this species produced 2n pollen and Jackson (1999) found 2-15%, which would be effectively dodecaploid and 8EBN.

Female	Male	Berry Set	Seed Set	Ploidy	Germ	Source

References

Solanum iopetalum at Solanaceae Source

Solanum iopetalum at GRIN Taxonomy

Solanum iopetalum at CIP