ABSTRACT
The potato, Solanum tuberosum, an ancient South American food staple, is one of the most important farm crops cultivated in most countries around the world. The vegetative shoot of the potato is a sympodium which terminates in an inflorescence. Wild potato species and most of the cultivated diploid potatoes flower profusely. Flower primordia and inflorescences are formed in many potato varieties under diverse climatological conditions, indicating the flexibility of the potato as far as requirements for induction and initiation of flower primordia are concerned. In many varieties, the developing flowers constitute a relatively weak sink as compared to the strong sink of the tubers. High temperatures and dry weather seem to be among the factors promoting flower drop. Developing flowers often degenerate before anthesis, the flowers cease to grow, develop a yellowish color, and wilt. The embryo sac and the surrounding nucellus shrivel and degenerate.
