Luther Burbank March 7, — April 11, , [ 1 ] an American botanist , horticulturist , and pioneer in agricultural science , developed more than strains and varieties of plants over his year career. Burbank worked with for example fruits, flowers, grains, grasses, and vegetables. He developed but did not create a spineless cactus useful for cattle-feed and the plumcot. Burbank's most successful strains and varieties included the Shasta daisy , the fire poppy note possible confusion with the California wildflower, Papaver californicum , which is also called a "fire poppy" , the "July Elberta" peach , the "Santa Rosa" plum, the "Flaming Gold" nectarine , the "Wickson" plum named after the agronomist Edward J.
Wickson , the freestone peach, and the white blackberry. A natural genetic variant of the Burbank potato with russet-colored skin later became known as the russet Burbank potato. This large, brown-skinned, white-fleshed potato has become the world's predominant potato in food processing. The Russet Burbank potato originated to help with the devastating situation in Ireland following the Great Famine of This particular potato variety was developed by Burbank and exported to Ireland to "revive that country's leading crop" [ 2 ] as it is slightly late-blight-resistant.
Late blight is a disease that spread and destroyed potatoes all across Europe, but caused extreme chaos in Ireland due to the Irish population's high dependency on potatoes as a crop. Born in Lancaster, Massachusetts , Burbank grew up on a farm and received only a high school education in Lancaster County Academy.
The thirteenth of fifteen children, [ 4 ] he enjoyed the plants in his mother's large garden. His father died when he was 18 years old, [ 5 ] and Burbank used his inheritance to buy a acre 69, m 2 plot of land near Lunenburg center. There, he developed the Burbank potato. Later, a natural vegetative sport that is, an aberrant growth that can be reproduced reliably in cultivation of Burbank potato with russetted skin was selected and named Russet Burbank potato.
Today, the Russet Burbank potato is the most widely cultivated potato in the United States. The potato is popular because it doesn't expire as easily as other types of potatoes.
