Mystery Potato Revisited

All:

After a frustrating search through dozens and dozens of photographs of the 
Solanaceae at the University of Nijmegen Botanical Garden's excellent 
website, at: 
http://www-sci.sci.kun.nl/bgard/
I came to a rather embarrassing conclusion.  My "mystery potato" isn't even 
in the Solanaceae!  The leaves and branches on my plant are opposite, while 
the Solanaceae are characterized by alternate leaves and branches.   Also, 
the flowers don't have the characteristic prominent yellow stamens of most 
Solanums.  Other than that, it looks very much like it could be in the 
Solanaceae, and it was labeled "Potato Vine" at the nursery where I bought it 
(Orchard Supply Hardware).  I'm going to describe it again in the hopes that 
someone will recognize it.

It is an upright, herbaceous perennial.  It is not at all woody or shrubby.  
The maroon-colored, upright stems are .5m to nearly one meter in length. The 
branches and leaves are opposite.  The leaves are dark green, lanceolate, 
entire to irregularly toothed, from 4cm to 18cm in length, and from 1cm to 3 
cm across.  The rich purple-blue flowers are large, around 4-5cm across, 
slightly asymmetrical, with the 5 petals (2 up, 3 down) uniting into a 
tubular corolla around 3cm in length.  They appear in clusters of 2 to 4 at 
the end of branched stems 10-15cm long arising in the axils of the leaves.  
Only one or two flowers per cluster are open at any given time.  The flowers 
only last a day or so.  The plant died completely back this winter, and I cut 
it to the ground, but it came back from the roots and even sent up a couple 
of wandering shoots nearby, so it shows some tendency to spread, albeit 
slowly.  Anyway, I'd like to know what it is, and if any of you recognize it 
from this description, please drop me a line.  Thanks.
 
 Kurt Mize
 Stockton, California
 USDA Zone 9

-- BEGIN included message

  • To: m*@ucdavis.edu
  • Subject: Mystery Potato
  • From: K*@aol.com
  • Date: Thu, 15 Jul 1999 13:00:02 EDT
  • Full-name: K1MIZE
All:

I need some help identifying a mystery potato.  I purchased a plant last year 
that was just labeled "Potato Vine," although it clearly wasn't a vine.  It 
is an upright, herbaceous perennial in the Solanaceae.  It might even be in 
the genus Solanum.  The maroon-colored, upright stems are .5m to nearly one 
meter in length. The branches and leaves are opposite.  The leaves are dark 
green, lanceolate, entire to irregularly toothed, and 5 to 15cm in length.  
The rich purple-blue flowers are large, around 4cm across, the 5 petals 
uniting into a tubular corolla around 3cm in length.  They appear in clusters 
of 2 to 4 on branched stems arising in the axils of the leaves, although 
usually only one flower per cluster is open at a time.  The plant died 
completely back this winter, and I cut it to the ground, but it came back 
from the roots and even sent up a couple of wandering shoots nearby, so it 
shows some tendency to spread, albeit slowly.  Anyway, I'd like to know what 
it is, and if any of you recognize it from this description, please drop me a 
line.  Thanks.

Kurt Mize
Stockton, California
USDA Zone 9

-- END included message

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