Author Description

The authors provide a comprehensive treatise on wild and cultivated Bolivian potatoes, a critical food crop in high altitude regions throughout South America. Part one illustrates their importance in providing the genetic basis for developing new potato varieties resistant to pests and diseases and adapted to environmental stresses. The genetic and cytological relationships between species, their genome composition, and their crossability with each other are also discussed. In part two detailed descriptions, distribution, habitat data, and taxonomic positions are set out, species by species. The authors' views on the evolution of cultivated potato species are also presented.