Potato

Lore & Background

Wild potato species occur from the southern United States to southern Chile. brevicaule complex. The most widely cultivated variety, Solanum tuberosum tuberosum, is indigenous to the Chiloé Archipelago and was cultivated by local indigenous people before the Spanish conquest.

Reader's Guide

The potato's introduction to Europe in the second half of the 16th century, as part of the Columbian exchange, transformed global agriculture. The potato remains essential in Europe, especially Northern and Eastern Europe, with the most rapid 21st-century expansion in southern and eastern Asia. groups all potato species under Solanum tuberosum, positing that all landraces branch from a single point within Solanum candolleanum.

Did You Know?

• The English word 'potato' comes from Spanish patata, which in turn comes from Taíno batata, meaning 'sweet potato'.
• The aerial parts of the potato contain the toxin solanine; tubers can become toxic if sprouts and skins are exposed to light.
• More than 99% of all current potato varieties are direct descendants of a subspecies that once grew in the lowlands of south-central Chile.