The Chiloé Archipelago is home to a wide variety of

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

es. After the

Titicaca Lake Titicaca (; es, Lago Titicaca ; qu, Titiqaqa Qucha) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. By volume of water and by surface area, i ...

region of

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

and

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, it is the geographical nucleus where the most different types of potatoes are found. Evidence ranging from historical records, local agriculturalists, and DNA analyses strongly supports the hypothesis that the most widely cultivated variety of potato worldwide, ''

Solanum tuberosum tuberosum The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern United S ...

'', is indigenous to the Chiloé Archipelago, and has been cultivated by the local

indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

since before the Spanish conquest. Contrary to potatoes from Peru and Bolivia the potatoes of Chiloé are adapted to the long-day conditions prevalent in the higher latitude region of southern Chile. After the disastrous European Potato Failure in the 1840s strains originating in the Chiloé Archipelago replaced earlier potatoes of Peruvian origin in Europe. The potatoes of Chiloé are important elements of Chilote folk medicine and features in

Chilote mythology The Chilote mythology or Chilota mythology is formed by the myths, legends and beliefs of the people who live in the Chiloé Archipelago, in the south of Chile. This mythology reflects the importance of the sea in the life of Chilotes. Chilote myt ...

. Historian Renato Cárdenas and botanist

Carolina Villagrán Carolina Villagrán Moraga is a Chilean biologist known for her work on Quaternary biogeography. Her works include models for the past extent of different altitudinal zonations in Chile and on the origin of the Chilean flora. She is part of t ...

counted about "300 names used for potatoes grown in Chiloé at different times".Cárdenas & Villagrán 2005, p. 26. Local varieties include '' Bruja morada'', '' Camota'',Cárdenas & Villagrán 2005, p. 109. ''

Chochoca Chochoca, chochoyeco, trotroyeco or trutru is a traditional dish in Chiloé and Huilliche cuisine in Chile. It consists of a dough of grated raw potatoes mixed with cooked potatoes—or of cooked potatoes mixed with flour—that is roasted over ...

'', '' Clavela lisa'', '' Güencha'',Cárdenas & Villagrán 2005, p. 172. '' Pachacoña'',Cárdenas & Villagrán 2005, p. 263. '' Caballera'',Cárdenas & Villagrán 2005, p. 102. ''Cabrita'', ''Cabra'',Effect of the storage temperature and time on native potato quality
/ref> '' Michuñe Azul'', '' Michuñe negra'', '' Michuñe roja'', '' Huicaña'',Cárdenas & Villagrán 2005, p. 186. '' Viscocha''. Some potatoes varieties developed abroad have also been introduced to Chiloé, but not all of these have been successful in adapting, despite their putative high yields. The ''coraíla'' variety introduced by Servando Coraíl was dominant in the mid-20th century. Yet cultivation of this foreign variety was discontinued when the cultivar was repeatedly struck by the potato blight in the 1950s and 1960s. Preservation efforts of the many varieties begun in the 1960s when agronomist

Andrés Contreras Andrés Nicolás Contreras Méndez (d. November 30, 2014) was a Chilean agronomist known for his studies of the native potatoes of Chiloé. Contreras pioneered preservation efforts of the many varieties of Chiloé potatoes as he began in the 1960s t ...

travelled Chiloé Archipelago in search of small gardens where local elderly women had grown potatoes over many generations. At present

Austral University of Chile Austral University of Chile ( es, Universidad Austral de Chile or UACh) is a Chilean research university based primarily in Valdivia, with a satellite campus in Puerto Montt. Founded on September 7, 1954, it is one of the eight original Chilean Tr ...

Valdivia Valdivia (; Mapuche: Ainil) is a city and commune in southern Chile, administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder Pedro de Valdivia and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and Cau-Cau R ...

hosts a gene bank of the potatoes of Chiloé.

Guaitecas Archipelago

Some of the potatoes of Chiloé also grow in the wild in Guaitecas Archipelago, although there is some uncertainty as to when and how potatoes arrived there. The Guaitecas Archipelago formed the southern limit of

Pre-Hispanic In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...

agriculture as noted by the mention of the cultivation of potatoes by a Spanish expedition in 1557. Later during the

second voyage of HMS Beagle The second voyage of HMS ''Beagle'', from 27 December 1831 to 2 October 1836, was the second survey expedition of HMS ''Beagle'', under captain Robert FitzRoy who had taken over command of the ship on its first voyage after the previous capta ...

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

collected potatoes from Guaitecas. Potatoes grow beside the sea in a

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

aceous zone. The wild potatoes that grow in the archipelago are mostly found in its western part. Apparently these potatoes do not reproduce by seeds and rarely produce flowers and fruits. Potatoes grow in zones of disturbance, mainly in the herbaceous zone near the coast that is affected by winter storms. File:Solanum tuberosum - guadacho.JPG, '' Guadachos'' variety File:Solanum tuberosum - michuñe blanca.JPG, '' Michuñe Blanca'' variety File:Solanum tuberosum - michuñe.JPG, '' Michuñe Roja'' variety

References

;Bibliography * {{DEFAULTSORT:Potatoes of Chiloe Potato cultivars Crops originating from Chile Agriculture in Chile Chiloé Archipelago Chilean cuisine Indigenous culture of the Southern Cone