Potato
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Potato, (Solanum tuberosum), annual plant in the nightshade family (Solanaceae), grown for its starchy edible tubers. The potato is native to the Peruvian-Bolivian Andes and is one of the world’s main food crops. Potatoes are frequently served whole or mashed as a cooked vegetable and are also ground into potato flour, used in baking and as a thickener for sauces. The tubers are highly digestible and supply vitamin C, protein, thiamin, and niacin.
The potato is one of some 150 tuber-bearing species of the genus Solanum (a tuber is the swollen end of an underground stem). The compound leaves are spirally arranged; each leaf is 20–30 cm (about 8–12 inches) long and consists of a terminal leaflet and two to four pairs of leaflets. The white, lavender, or purple flowers have five fused petals and yellow stamens. The fruit is a small poisonous berry with numerous seeds.
The stems extend underground into structures called stolons. The ends of the stolons may enlarge greatly to form a few to more than 20 tubers, of variable shape and size, usually ranging in weight up to 300 grams (10 ounces) but occasionally to more than 1.5 kg (3.3 pounds).
