Potato flowers 2022

I’ll use this thread to post some of the more interesting potato flowers this year. Feel free to join in!

First up, a 2021 seedling out of Valparaiso. A hexamerous flower, rather than the normal pentamerous, form, but that could just be a one-off.

potato-22val.y+be-y

Here is a 2021 seedling out of Azul Toro. This plant was the most similar overall to its parent.
potato-22at.b-u

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Nice!

Valparaiso (S. maglia hybrid) seedlings. These are interesting because they are mostly yellow potatoes, but the flowers indicate that they all carry blue. I have relatively few blue diploids, so the probability that they would all catch blue alleles is low. Maybe S. maglia carries blue alleles that are overridden by a distribution gene.
potato-flower-val-5
potato-flower-val-4
potato-flower-val-3
potato-flower-val-2
potato-flower-val-1

Here is one of my favorite S. venturii clones, It was so pretty for a couple months
20220115_102740
S. neocardenasii next to some S. stipuloideum on the left
20220115_102751
S. clarum, a beautiful plant but I haven’t been successful crossing it with anything including other S. clarum.
20220115_102823
From left to right: A cultivated tetraploid, a cultivated diploid, and a diploid species hybrid
20220407_103224
Some minuscule S. morelliforme flowers. It is a really cool species, but I have had a difficult time growing it.
20220217_095814

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Yeah, S. clarum and S. morelliforme are challenging. And, when you are successful, you get a tiny berry with less than 10 seeds for your efforts.

I love that S. venturii plant. I have never seed one even close to that floriferous.

Fine collection you have.

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Yungay x Yana Condori. Big flowers on this one.

bigflowers

Do you have any tips for successful S. clarum or morelliforme pollinations? The only thing that I can think of would be to try and increase the humidity.

That S. venturii clone is definitely one of my favorite! I have some clones of S. verrucosum, S. commersonii, and a few hybrids that are similarly floriferous.

I really like potato flowers! They have so much more variety than I think most people expect. A few species like S. bulbocastanum and S. pinnatisectum often have very fragrant flowers and they smell amazing when the conditions are right. I grew a few flowering hybrids on my porch this summer and they looked magnificent when the weather was a little cooler. Below are a few more of my favorite pictures or interesting clones that I have made.

S, pinnatisectum
S. pinnatisectum

S. pinnatisectum, S. jamesii, S. clarum, S. bulbocastanum, and S. commersonii
S. pinnatisectum, S. jamesii, S. clarum, S. bulbocastanum, and S. commersonii

Numbered 4x line from Michigan State University breeding program
Numbered 4x line from Michigan State University breeding program

S. verrucosum x S. commersonii hybrid
S. verrucosum x S. commersonii hybrid

S. verrucosum x S. pinnatisectum hybrid
S. verrucosum x S. pinnatisectum hybrid

That red tetraploid is spectacular!

Double anthered potato flower:
potato-flower-double-anther

A very floriferous Valparaiso seedling:
potato-floriferous

Myatt’s Ashleaf, an English heirloom from 1804:
potato-Myatts_Ashleaf-flowers

Loowit seedling with fully red anthers:
potato-red-anthers

Twanoh y Azul, a cross of Twanoh and Negro y Azul:
potato-Twanoh_y_Azul-flower

Gunter Blue x Loowit:
gbxloo

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Ozette, a pacific northwest heirloom potato. Like most potatoes of Chilean origin, this one is male sterile, so it cannot self pollinate. It also has terrible female fertility, so all the flowers tend to drop even when pollinated. I still keep trying though and I get the occasional berry for the effort.

potato-Ozette-flower

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