Its range includes the southern United States.

All parts of the plant, and especially the fruit, are toxic, containing solanine when it matures.

[citation needed] The tubers were/are eaten raw or cooked by several Native American tribes,[2][3] but they require leaching and boiling in clay in order to be rendered edible.

[4] Escalante Valley in Utah boasts the oldest archaeologically documented cultivation sites of the Four Corners potato, dating back over 7,000 years, and the plant is so prevalent there that a former name for the area was "Potato Valley".

[5] S. jamesii is sometimes grown in yards or gardens as an ornamental plant, and there have been recent experiments in Escalante, Utah to start growing it as a food vegetable again, making use of the lower-alkaloid cultivars selected by the natives.