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Purchase seeds or tubers of Solanum huancabambense

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Description

Based on the published descriptions of this species, it seems that I might have a mismatch here.  I have gone back to the original genebank accession and confirmed that I get seedlings of the same type, so I’m not sure if this is an unusual accession of the species or a mistake by the genebank.  As soon as I figure it out, I will make corrections.

Solanum huancabambense is a species of small distribution in northern Peru.  Plants reach a little more than a foot tall.  Leaves are shiny and hairless (glabrous).  White flowers. Overall this is a very attractive plant and it seems like it might have some ornamental potential.

The specific epithet, huancabambense, refers to Huancabamba, Peru.  While there is no completely standardized pronunciation for scientific names, the most common way to pronounce this species is probably so-LAY-num wahn-kah-bam-BEN-see.

Resistances

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

This species resists the AVR2 effector of the late blight organism, one method of resistance to late blight (Aguilera-Galvez 2018).  It most likely evolved this trait separately from North American species that have been more commonly used in late blight breeding, so it may be useful for broadening the genetic basis of that resistance.  On the other hand, Garry (2001) found that late blight lesions were larger on S. huancabambense than on domesticated potato (possibly an indication of protective sensitivity to infection).

Condition	Type	Level of Resistance	Source
Phytophthora infestans (Late Blight)	Fungus	Somewhat resistant	Aguilera-Galvez 2018
Phytophthora infestans (Late Blight)	Fungus	Not resistant	Gonzales 2002

Glykoalkaloid content

No information.

Images

Cultivation

I have found this species difficult to germinate.  It might require different conditions than the standard for S. tuberosum.

Breeding

Crosses with S. tuberosum

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

Crosses with other species

Jackson (1999) found 4-12% 2n pollen for varieties of this species.

Female	Male	Berry Set	Seed Set	Germ	Ploidy	Source

References

Solanum huancabambense at Solanaceae Source

Solanum huancabambense at GRIN Taxonomy

Solanum huancabambense at CIP