The tarnished plant bug: Cause of potato rot? — An episode in mid-nineteenth-century entomology and plant pathology

Abstract

The domestic potato, Solanum tuberosum Linnaeus, a member of the nightshade family (Solanaceae),1 has had profound social and political influence in Europe and North America.2 Attempts to discover the potato's center of original cultivation and document its spread and domestication in Europe and the New World have suffered from a dearth of evidence. Even though the origin and taxonomy of the cultivated potato is a large and complex topic, the steps leading to domestication need to be outlined before tuming to theories proposed to explain the disastrous late blight disease. Scientists generally agree that the potato is indigenous to the central Andes and that it was introduced into Spain around 1570, probably from the northern coast of Peru or Bolivia. It then was brought to England, probably form a different source, between 1588 and 1593.3 Potato culture developed slowly in Europe owing to the "nightshade curse": many held the general opinion that all solanaceous plants were poisonous and that the potato in particular caused leprosy and scrofula.4 In addition, the subspecies introduced from the northern Andes was poorly adapted to European climates because of its short-day response to the photoperiod.5 Through several centuries of selection.