Seasonal Wild Flowers

Latin name

Solanum tuberosum

Family

Solanaceae

Flowering season

June to September

English distribution

Potatoes are grown as a crop throughout the country.

Escapes are also found countrywide but are less common

in the North.

See the BSBI distribution map for Potato

Habitat

It is a neophyte, which was introduced from South America

in the 1590s.

It has been known in the wild since the early 1900s.

The escape is mainly a casual of relatively short

persistence.

However, if tubers form, populations can become

naturalised and persist. In Dorset they have been

known to persist for over10 years.

Escapes are found in relic arable ground, waste

ground, rubbish tips and on sandy and shingle beaches. 

Description

Potato is an introduced, rhizomatous, tuberous herb

growing up to 75cm.

The flowers are up to 2cm with 5 white or purple petals.

There are 5 prominent stamens with the anthers much

longer than the filaments.

The anthers are yellow and form a yellow cone.

The stigma is capitate.

Fruits are many seeded berries. They resemble

tomatoes and are green turning to purple.

Leaves are dark green and in pairs.

The tubers are persistent and enable growth in

the following year.

There is an excellent article on the history, growth

and uses of potatoes on this link to Wikipedia.