Its effect on the potato gives “Rot,” a vigorous ... If, he said, he were to write a novel about his home town, Enniscorthy, that took place after the famine years, “I would not have to ...

The potato blight, caused by the fungus-like pathogen Phytophthora infestans, triggered a famine that killed over a million people and forced millions more to flee. For over a century, scientists ...