Phytophthora infestans

immigrants arrived in America between 1845 to 1860. The Irish potato famine, or The Great Potato Famine, was caused by a late blight on potato crops year after year, starting in 1845 and slowing down by 1851. The blight, scientifically known as Phytophthora infestans, infects the leaves and edible roots of the potato plant, leaving the whole crop rotting in the fields. Because at least half of Ireland at that time, mainly her poor, depended heavily on the potato crop as the main source of…