COLOMBIA AND VENEZUELA 1992 WILD POTATO (SOLANUM SECT PETOTA) GERMPLASM COLLECTING EXPEDITION - TAXONOMY AND NEW GERMPLASM RESOURCES

We conducted a joint Colombia/United States/Venezuela wild potato (Sol anum sect. Petota Dumort.) germplasm collecting expedition in Colombia from June 27-August 24, and in Venezuela from August 17-September 15, 1992. The goals of the expedition were to collect germplasm and study the species boundaries of all of the 23 Colombian and Venezuelan taxa accepted by current taxonomists. We made 128 collections of 16 of the se taxa, 96 as true seed collections. We collected the first available germplasm collections of S. cacetanum, S. cuatrecasasii, S. estradae, S. lobbianum, S. orocense, S. paramoense, and S. sucubunense, and obt ained germplasm collections of S. neovalenzuelae and S. pamplonense as a germplasm exchange from the Colombian national germplasm collection . We had problems identifying some of our collections, and currently a re investigating them for species status and interrelationships. We su mmarize the state of germplasm collections for Colombia and Venezuela, provide our field data regarding the taxonomy of Colombian and Venezu elan wild potatoes, and provide recommendations for future collecting.