All of us have heard the saying “fact is stranger than fiction”, which is something that truly applies to this piece of news. Turns out, a plant has been engineered in Britain by horticulturists that can grow both tomatoes and potatoes. Honestly, calling it a wonderplant would be an understatement. It has intrigued people so much that the company that has made this possible is inundated with orders. To those unaware of the science behind the whole thing, such a plant might sound like nothing short of a miracle, but those who know that tomatoes and potatoes are of the same plant family, might not find the whole thing as unusual.
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The tomtato plant as it has been christened was made possible using grafting, which is an age-old technique used by horticulturists. A good thing is that the yield produced by such a plant will have the same kind of taste that regular tomatoes or potatoes have, but the volume of the produce might be lesser than if it were a dedicated tomato or a potato plant. The process of grafting the two plants is pretty simple. When the tomato plant is but a few weeks old, it is cut at the stem and then placed at where a potato plant stem has been cut. All that is left to do is sit back and wait, while Mother Nature works her magic, fusing together both the plants as if they were always one.
Eventually, the roots of the modified plant yields potatoes and its vines yields tomatoes. In other words, although the two plants become one, it is an equal marriage, where both partners retain their identities. This technique can be used to merge a number of vegetable yielding plants that are basically of the same family. For example, a potato plant can also be merged with a plant that yields bell peppers or eggplants as they also of the same family. The company that has created the tomtato plant is contemplating trying out all possible combinations, but had reservations about revealing, which combination would be next.
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A company spokesman while dropping hints about future plans was quoted as saying: “The possibilities are there and we’ll be looking into more as soon as we can. The world is our oyster.” Truly, the possibilities are endless.
