Other conspecific taxa:

• Tropaeolum tuberosum subsp. silvestre (0 accessions)
• Tropaeolum tuberosum subsp. tuberosum (0 accessions)

Common names:

• isañú  (Source: Prom Underused Crops) - Aymara
• capucine tubéreuse  (Source: Dict Rehm) - French
• peruanische Knollenkresse  (Source: Dict Rehm) - German
• capuchinha-tuberosa  (Source: pers. comm.) - Portuguese (Brazil)
• añu  (Source: Names Soukup) - Quichua (Peru)
• mashua  (Source: Potato Bol) - Quichua (Peru)
• cubios  (Source: Prom Underused Crops) - Spanish
• magua  (Source: Dict Rehm) - Spanish
• mashua  (Source: Dict Rehm) - Spanish
• knölkrasse  (Source: Kulturvaxtdatabas) - Swedish

Economic Importance:

• Environmental: ornamental (fide Dict Gard)
• Human food: vegetable (fide L Edible Pl; Food Feed Crops US)
• Gene sources: primary genetic relative of mashua (based on affinities between "wild" and cultivated forms of Tropaeolum tuberosum fide Genet Res Crop Evol 54:820. 2007)

Distributional Range:

Native

Southern America

• WESTERN SOUTH AMERICA: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
• SOUTHERN SOUTH AMERICA: Argentina


Cultivated (also cult.)

References:

1. Aldén, B., S. Ryman, & M. Hjertson Svensk Kulturväxtdatabas, SKUD (Swedish Cultivated and Utility Plants Database; online resource on www.skud.info). 2012 (Kulturvaxtdatabas)
2. Brako, L. & J. L. Zarucchi Catalogue of the flowering plants and gymnosperms of Peru. Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 45. 1993 (L Peru)
3. Grau, A. et al. 2003. Mashua. Tropaeolum tuberosum Ruíz & Pav. (Prom Underused Crops) 25:1-55.
4. Groth, D. 2005. pers. comm. (pers. comm.)
5. Harling, G. & B. Sparre, eds. Flora of Ecuador. 1973- (F Ecuador)
6. Hawkes, J. G. & J. P. K. Hjerting The potatoes of Bolivia: their breeding value and evolutionary relationships. 1989 (Potato Bol)
7. Huxley, A., ed. 1992. The new Royal Horticultural Society dictionary of gardening. 1992 (Dict Gard) 4:521.
8. Kunkel, G. Plants for human consumption. 1984 (L Edible Pl)
9. Ortega, O. R. et al. 2007. Pattern of genetic diversity of cultivated and non-cultivated mashua, Tropaeolum tuberosum, in the Cusco region of Perú Genet. Resources Crop Evol. 54:807-821.
10. Rehm, S. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants. 1994 (Dict Rehm)
11. Soukup, J. Vocabulario de los nombres vulgares de la flora peruana. (Names Soukup)

Cite as: USDA, Agricultural Research Service, National Plant Germplasm System. 2026. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN-Taxonomy).
National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. URL: http://germoplasma.iniaf.gob.bo/gringlobal/taxonomydetail.aspx?id=40692. Accessed 7 junio 2026.