Origins of Solanum lasiocarpum and S. repandum

Abstract

Solanum candidum of tropical America is very similar to S. lasiocarpum of southeastern Asia, and S. sessiliflorum, a wild and domesticated plant of the Amazon basin, is very similar to S. repandum, a weed and domesticated plant of Oceania. Artificial hybrids between S. candidum and S. lasiocarpum proved fertile, and it is postulated that S. lasiocarpum resulted from a Spanish introduction of S. candidum to Asia. Hybrids between S. repandum and S. sessiliflorum showed considerable reduction in fertility and abnormalities at meiosis, whereas hybrids of both S. candidum and S. lasiocarpum with S. repandum were fertile. It is concluded that it is likely that S. repandum did not arise from S. sessiliflorum but from S. lasiocarpum or S. candidum, and that the similarity of S. repandum to S. sessiliflorum results from convergence