Potato

A potato is a vegetable, the Solanum tuberosum. It is a small plant with large leaves. The part of the potato that people eat is a tuber that grows under the ground.

Potato
Potato cultivars appear in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes.
Scientific classification
Unrecognized taxon (fix):	Solaneae
Genus:	Solanum
Species:	S. tuberosum
Binomial name
Solanum tuberosum L.
Synonyms
List Solanum andigenum Juz. & Bukasov Solanum apurimacense Vargas Solanum aquinas Bukasov Solanum chiloense Berthault Solanum chilotanum Hawkes Solanum cultum Berthault Solanum diemii Brücher Solanum estradae L.E. López Solanum fonckii Phil. Solanum herrerae Juz. Solanum kesselbrenneri Juz. & Bukasov Solanum leptostigma Juz. & Buk. Solanum molinae Juz. Solanum oceanicum Brücher Solanum ochoanum Lechn. Solanum sanmartiniense Brucher Solanum subandigena Hawkes Solanum tascalense Brucher Solanum zykinii Lechn.

A potato has a lot of starch and other carbohydrates. Potato usually has a light-brown or yellowish skin and is white or yellow inside. If the potato gets light on it, the tuber turns green and will be poisonous.

1. Sprout 2. Dormant bud 3. Periderm 4. Cortex 5. Vascular Ring 6. Perimedulla 7. Outer medulla

History

The potato came from the high and cool areas of the Andes mountains. It was grown as a food crop thousands of years ago. When Spanish conquistadores came to South America in the 1500s, they took potatoes back to Europe.

It took nearly 200 years for the potato to become a widely grown crop. In the 1780s the farmers in Ireland began growing potatoes because they grew well in the poor soils. They also have most of the vitamins that people need to live. When a potato plague destroyed the crop in 1845, the Irish Potato Famine killed many people.

The potato plant is now grown in many parts of the world. Captain William Bligh planted potatoes on Bruny Island, Tasmania in 1792. In Australia they are now the largest vegetable crop.

Name origin

The English word "potato" comes from the Spanish word "patata". The Royal Spanish Academy says the Spanish word is a hybrid of the Taíno batata ('sweet potato') and the Quechua papa ('potato').

Types

• Yukon Gold – developed in Canada
• Norgleam
• Bismark
• Coliban
• Russet
• Pontiac
• Sequoia
• Desiree – cream colored flesh, red skin
• Bintje
• Irish grown

Scientists in Germany have used genetic engineering to make a potato called the Amflora, which could be grown to make starch for making other things in factories.

Cooking

Potatoes are almost always eaten cooked. People cook potatoes by boiling, baking, roasting, or frying them. French fries or "chips" are potatoes cut into long pieces and fried until they are soft. Potato chips, often called crisps, are potatoes cut into very thin round pieces and fried until they are hard.

Potato Media

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  Diagram depicting the morphology of the potato plant. Note the formation of tubers from stolons.

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  Leaves of potato plant

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  Flowers of potato plant

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  Diagram of the internal and external morphology of a potato tuber

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  Production of potatoes (2019)

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  World map of potato and cassava cultivation, 1907

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  Sprouts growing from a tuber's 'eyes' that will produce the plant's aerial stems. Small roots are observed at the base of the shoots.

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  1 and a half russet potato with sprouts. Sliced (left) and whole (right). About 4 1/2 inches (11.5 cm) in length.

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  A thin section of a potato under light microscopy. It has been treated with an iodine based dye that binds to starch, turning it purple, showing the high starch content.

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  Potatoes with different pigmentation