Potato

The potato (plural form: potatoes) (Solanum tuberosum) is a perennial plant of the Solanaceae, or nightshade, family, grown for its starchy tuber. Potatoes are the world's most important tuber crop and fourth most important source of food energy (after rice, wheat, and maize): farmers and gardeners grow them world-wide. Growers cultivate thousands of different varieties of potato. The potato originated in the Andes, in the area of present-day Peru. Pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Andean cultures cultivated around 200 different kinds of potatoes.

Related Topics:
Perennial plant - Solanaceae - Nightshade - Starch - Tuber - Food energy - Rice - Wheat - Maize - Andes - Peru - Pre-Columbian - Andean

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The potato has only a very distant relationship with the sweet potato. In areas of the United States where sweet potatoes grow commonly, people sometimes refer to the "Irish potato" to distinguish the two, a reference to the widespread cultivation of potatoes in Ireland in the 19th century.

Related Topics:
Sweet potato - United States - Ireland

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