Can Tomatoes & Potatoes Cross-Pollinate?

Many members of the nightshade family are poisoness.

Tomatoes and potatoes belong to the nightshade family, or the Solanacene. This also includes eggplants, tobacco and all the varieties of peppers. Tomatoes and potatoes both come from Central and South America and were introduced to the Europeans in the early 1500s.

Cannot Cross-Pollinate

Tomatoes and potatoes, although related, are far distant cousins. This prevents them from cross-pollinating one another or cross-breeding.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes need help with pollination. The best friend the gardener has to assist him with this is the honeybee. They happily exchange the pollen from one tomato flower with another for an opportunity for some nectar.

Potatoes

Pollination is normally not a concern with potatoes and the home gardener. The tuber, or the underground root, is the important part of the plant for both eating and propagating. New plants are set not by seeds from fruit grown from a pollinated flower, but by using parts of the tuber.

References

• Nightshade - Edible Species Of Nightshades, Tomato, Potato,Science Encyclopedia: Eggplant And Peppers, Medicine, Tobacco
• Pollinator: "Self Pollinating" and Tomato Growing Mythology
• Plant Biotech Blog: Pollination and Reproductive Behavior of Crop Plants