BOLIVIA POTATO GERMPLASM COLLECTING EXPEDITIONS 1993, 1994 - TAXONOMY AND NEW GERMPLASM RESOURCES

We conducted joint Bolivia/The Netherlands/United States wild potato (Solanum sect. Petota Dumort.) germplasm collecting expeditions in Bolivia from February 1-April 15, 1993, and January 1-February 26, 1994. The goals of the expeditions were to collect germplasm and gather data for continuing taxonomic studies of the approximately 43 taxa of Bolivian wild potatoes accepted by current taxonomists. We made 223 collections, 135 as true seed collections, 54 as tubers, 19 only as herbarium collections. Two recent taxonomic treatments of Bolivian wild and cultivated potatoes have clarified the taxonomy and distribution of these plants, but there are continuing disagreements between treatments regarding species boundaries and interrelationships. These disagreements, and the variability we observed in natural populations, present problems for identifications. We summarize the state of germplasm collections for Bolivia, provide our field data regarding the taxonomy of Bolivian wild potatoes, provide recommendations for future collecting, and provide new chromosome counts for S. hoopesii, S. ugentii, and S. yungasense.