Solanum tuberosum Group Phureja facts for kids
Solanum tuberosum Group Phureja is a type of potato plant. It comes from the Andes mountains in South America. These potatoes are special because their tubers (the part we eat) don't go into a resting period. This means they start growing right away after they form.
Because of this, Phureja potatoes are best grown in places with warm weather all year. Scientists have mixed them with other potato types, like Solanum tuberosum, to create new kinds that can grow in cooler places like Europe. These mixed potatoes are very popular because they taste great!
A "cultivar-group" is a way scientists group plants. It helps farmers know which plants have useful features. For potatoes, these groups are based on things like how well they handle cold, if their tubers rest, and how they react to different day lengths.
What They Look Like
Phureja Group potato plants grow upright. Their flower stems (pedicels) bend a bit below the top part. The upper leaves spread out from the main stem at an angle.
These plants grow best when days are short, which helps them make tubers. They usually don't do well in frosty weather. They are also "diploid," meaning they have two sets of chromosomes. A key difference from another group, the Stenotomum Group, is that Phureja tubers start to sprout as soon as they are harvested.
How Scientists Classify Them
Scientists classify living things to organize them. This helps us understand how different plants are related.
Solanum phureja was first described as its own species in 1929 by Russian scientists. For many years, most scientists agreed that S. phureja was a separate species.
However, in 1962, some scientists suggested that S. phureja should be part of S. tuberosum as a "cultivar-group." They noticed that it was hard to tell them apart just by looking at their physical features.
Then, in 2002, a new study looked closely at all cultivated potatoes. It found that S. phureja didn't seem different enough to be its own species. So, all cultivated potatoes were reclassified as one species, S. tuberosum. This species was then divided into eight cultivar-groups, and Phureja became one of them.
Today, most scientists agree that the different types of potatoes that came from domestication should be treated as groups, not separate species.
See also
In Spanish: Papa Criolla para niños
