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Purchase seeds or tubers of Solanum x blanco-galdosii

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Description

Solanum x blanco-galdosii is a nothospecies (a naturally occurring hybrid) from nothern Peru.  It is thought to be a cross of S. chomatophilum x S. peloquinianum and has been experimentally recreated by the International Potato Center (Ochoa 2004).  There may be a little more complexity to the background of this species.  Ames (2010) found that S. x blanco-galdosii grouped genetically with S. jalcae in addition to the previously recognized parent varieties.  This is part of a small group of very interesting dryland species from Peru that have long, thin leaves and a sparse growing habit.

The specific epithet, blanco-galdosii, honors Ecuadorian botanists Gonzalo Blanco and Oscar Galdos, who collected and described this species.  While there is no completely standardized pronunciation for scientific names, the most common way to pronounce this species is probably so-LAY-num cross BLAN-koh-gahl-DOH-see-eye.

Resistances

This hybrid might be a useful source of drought resistance genes if it could be crossed to domesticated potatoes.  One of its parents, S. peloquinianum, grows under some of the driest conditions of any wild potato.

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

Condition	Type	Level of Resistance	Source
Potato Leaf Roll Virus (PLRV)		High	Ochoa 2004

Glykoalkaloid content

I have sampled some tubers of this species and found them pleasant tasting with no bitter aftertaste.

Images

Cultivation

I have found seeds of this species difficult to germinate.  They might require conditions different from the standard for S. tuberosum.

This hybrid is found at medium elevations in Peru, generally in cool, dry valleys.

Breeding

Crosses with S. tuberosum

Female	Male	Berry Set	Seed Set	Ploidy	Germ	Source
S. blanco-galdosii	S. tuberosum 4x	None	None			Jackson (1999)

Crosses with other species

Female	Male	Berry Set	Seed Set	Ploidy	Germ	Source

References

Solanum x blanco-galdosii at Solanaceae Source

Solanum x blanco-galdosii at GRIN Taxonomy

Solanum x blanco-galdosii at CIP