Solanum jamesii
| Solanum jamesii | |
| Light: |  |
| Moisture: |  |
| Hardiness: | 9 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-8.4 |
| Height: | 1' |
| Native to: | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
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Solanum jamesii (common name: colorado wild potato)
Propagation: Seed - sow early spring in a warm greenhouse. Prick out the seedlings into a fairly rich compost as soon as they are large enough to handle and grow them on fast. Plant them out after the last expected frosts.
Division. Harvest the tubers in autumn after the top-growth has been cut back by frost. Store the tubers in a cool frost-free place overwinter and replant in April.
Cultivation: Succeeds in most soils[1]. Dislikes wet or heavy clay soils[2][3]. Prefers a slightly acid soil, the tubers are subject to scab on limy soils or those deficient in humus. Yields best on a fertile soil rich in organic matter.
Not very hardy in Britain, but plants can be grown as half-hardy perennials, the tubers being planted out in April and harvested in the autumn after the top growth has died down.
Range: South-western N. America.
Habitat: Coniferous forests, 1600 - 2500 metres in Arizona.
Edibility: Tubers - raw or cooked[4][5][6][7][8][9]. The tubers are rich in starch but are quite small, averaging only about 3cm in diameter[7][10]. The tubers range in size from a pea to a walnut[11]. There is a bitterness in the tuber, this is concentrated near the skin[7]. They can be stored for several months or can be sliced thinly, dried and ground into a powder for making bread etc[12][13]. The Hopi Indians cook them or eat them raw with a saline clay in order to counteract the astringency and also use them in making yeast[12][13]. The tubers are rather fiddly to harvest, apart from their small size they are also produced at the tips of roots, often at some distance from the parent plant[K].
Pollinators: Insects
Soil: Can grow in light, medium, and heavy soils.
Drainage: Prefers well drained soil.
Flower Type: Hermaphrodite
Known Hazards: Although no specific mention of toxicity has been seen for this species, it belongs to a genus where many if not all the members have poisonous leaves and sometimes also the unripe fruits.
Links
References
- ↑ Chittendon, Fred. RHS Dictionary of Plants. Oxford University Press, 1951.
- ↑ Simons, Arthur. New Vegetable Growers Handbook. Penguin, 1977.
- ↑ Thompson, Robert. The Gardener's Assistant. Blackie and Son, 1878.
- ↑ Douglas, James. Alternative Foods.
- ↑ Uphof, Johannes. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim, 1959.
- ↑ Usher, George. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable, 1974.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Harrington, Harold. Edible Native Plants of the Rocky Mountains. University of New Mexico Press, 1967.
- ↑ Tanaka, Tyōzaburō. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing, 1976.
- ↑ Yanovsky, Elias. Food Plants of the North American Indians Publication 237. US Department of Agriculture.
- ↑ Saunders, Charles. Edible and Useful Wild Plants of the United States and Canada. Dover Publications, 1976.
- ↑ Whiting, Alfred. Ethnobotany of the Hopi. North Arizona Society of Science and Art, 1939.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Facciola, Stephen. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, 1990.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Moerman, Daniel. Native American Ethnobotany. Timber Press, 1998.