2n = 2x = 24 voucher: Spooner & Clausen 4572 (BAL) (Hijmans, et al. 2007)
2n = 3x = 36 voucher: Spooner & Clausen 4577 (BAL) (Hijmans, et al. 2007)
Solanum ×rechei is only known from western Argentina (Prov. La Rioja), in generally dry rocky areas in the open or among spiny shrubs or cacti, or as a weed in orchards or the edges of cultivated fields; (1200) 1600-2100 (3950) m in elevation.
Solanum ×rechei is a member of Solanum sect. Petota Dumort., the tuber-bearing cultivated and wild potatoes. Within sect. Petota, Solanum ×rechei is a member of a very diverse clade related to the cultivated potato. On a higher taxonomic level, it is a member of the informally-named Potato Clade, a group of perhaps 200-300 species that also includes the tomato and its wild relatives (Bohs, 2005).
Hawkes, J.G. 1963. A revision of the tuber-bearing Solanums. II.
Scott. Pl. Breed. Sta. Rec. 1963: 76-181.
Clausen, A.M. & D.M. Spooner 1998. Molecular support for the hybrid origin of the wild potato species Solanum × rechei (Solanum sect. Petota).
Crop Sci. 38: 858-865.
Bohs, L. 2005. Major clades in Solanum based on ndhF sequences.
Pp. 27-49 in R. C. Keating, V. C. Hollowell, & T. B. Croat (eds.), A festschrift for William G. D’Arcy: the legacy of a taxonomist. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden, Vol. 104. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.
Hijmans, R., T. Gavrilenko, S. Stephenson, J. Bamberg, A. Salas & D.M. Spooner 2007. Geographic and environmental range expansion through polyploidy in wild potatoes (Solanum section Petota).
Global Ecol. Biogeogr. 16: 485-495.
Solanum ×rechei is found growing with S. kurtzianum and S. microdontum, and is a natural hybrid between these two species. From S. kurtzianum it can be differentiated by its well developed stem wings, larger terminal leaflet and sometimes less developed anthers. From S. microdontum it can be differentiated by its smaller terminal leaflet, narrower stem wings, and larger number of lateral leaflets.
Both triploid and diploid cytotypes of S. microdontum have been shown to hybridize with S. kurtzianum in the Famatina Mountains in Prov. La Rioja, Argentina. These hybrids were first described as S. rechei (Hawkes, 1963) but it was later shown that S. rechei was an interspecific hybrid that propagates mainly by tubers and is common in disturbed habitats in the Famatina Mountains (Okada and Hawkes, 1978). This hypothesis of a hybrid origin was supported by Clausen and Spooner (1998) on the basis of additive parental-specific single-to low-copy nuclear RFLPs.