#tato

The Tato, if Wasteland Science is to be believed, is a hybrid of the 'extinct' potato and equally 'extinct' tomato. (Unidentified Brotherhood Scribe, 2287.) This classification is based solely on the appearance of specimens of the potato and tomato from botanical texts, without direct examination of either of these species and, seemingly, on the basis that the tato looks like a tomato, but is brown internally. As we have observed viable and non-mutant cultivars of potatos and tomatos in the Wasteland, we find little to recommend the work of this 'scribe'. Local farmers consider it a cousin to the aforementioned species, rather than a hybrid of them, though the extent to which this is correct is unclear.

FIGURE 2: A selection of identifying features of the Common Tato, detailed below. A: The tato vine and an unfertilized flower. The drooping flower is distinctly purple in colour, and not dissimilar in hue to lavender. Its petal structure is loose, layered, and drooping, rendering distinctive identification difficult. The vine is woody but struggles to support its own weight, with prominent striations. B: The leaf of a wild tato vine. While it has been damaged by pests, the shape is broadly consistent with Solanums. C: A typical tato fruit. The fruit has a number of knobbly ridges, a red-yellow colouration when ripe, and prominent blade-like leaves. In most respects, it closely resembles a tomato. D: Leaves of a cultivated tato vine. The serrations are broadly consistent with Solanum lycopersicum, the common tomato. E: The bark of a cultivated tato vine. The striated bark is broadly consistent with other Solanum species. F: The habit of 'wild' tato and cultivated tato compared. Minimal difference is observed, save that the cultivated tato bears fruit and grows taller and sturdier with care.

By all appearances, the Common Tato is a Solanum, and this appears to coincide with the observations of Wastelanders. However, the precise species remains elusive. We know little of the fruit itself, save that it is nutritious enough to bother with as a food crop, may or may not taste like 'ketchup-flavoured cardboard', are easy to grow, and are at least moderately starch-rich with enough available sugars to sustain fermentation. Curiously, no sectioned samples have ever been observed, rendering the claim that the inside is brown difficult to verify.

The most surprising aspect of the Common Tato is not its fruit - the starchiness aside, which we believe to be the product of genetic modification (see below) - but the question of fertilization. No fruit-bearing tato vine has been observed outside of cultivation, though the two plants are manifestly related. This suggests either that they are distinct species - which the Pedant rejects - or that the drooping flowers observed in 'wild' tatos lack a natural pollinator. Given the explosive growth of both the fly and the bee, this is far from impossible, and suggests that the continued existence of the tato plant - except via asexual suckering common to other Solanums - is largely reliant on human intervention.

Regarding the origins of the species, a theory emerges out of the limited range of the Tato and its curious characteristics. Having already observed the hypothesis of the relatively uncontaminated Appalachian Range as a biodiversity and trade artery of the early post-War period in the question of the Greater Appalachian Radroach and Common Eastern Mutfruit, the Pedant now considers the emergence of the Tato. The species was well established in Appalachia circa 2101, with no precise known origin. However, it IS known that Arktos Pharma was engaged in genetic experimentation with the tomato plant (alongside wheat and corn) in its botanical gardens.

This research involved the alteration of extant species to grow faster, in worse conditions, with higher yields of denser nutritional energy - yields achieved at the cost of taste. This seems to us a reasonable description of the fast-growing, starchy, somewhat unpleasant tato. While no clearcut evidence is available, we also note that a test site for Arktos produce - untouched since the war - was known to be a rich source of the unfertilized tato flower in the early 2100s. The Pedant thus submits that, rather than a naturally arising mutation or hybrid, the Common Tato is in fact the product of this research - perhaps combining genetics from the common tomato and potato. This origin would explain the highly improbable evolution of a starchy fruiting body (not unheard of among fruit, but not present in the fruits of Solanum plants), the flexibility in conditions, and even the necessity of artificial pollination - an experimental plant that cannot be naturally pollinated by local insects permitting field testing at minimal risk of valuable intellectual property escaping into the wild.