Potato
Solanum tuberosum
Also known as: potato plant · potato spud · Irish potato · white potato · tater · potater
Plantae
UNCOMMON
Stats
- Lifespan
- Annual crop
- Size
- Medium
- Diet
- Photosynthetic
- Biome
- Temperate grassland
- Range
- South America
- Movement
- Sessile
- Breeding
- Seeds
- Defense
- Toxins
- Status
- Uncommon
About
The potato is a starchy tuber native to the Andes of South America and now one of the world's most important staple crops. Its familiar tuber is not a root but a swollen underground stem — the dimpled "eyes" are dormant buds capable of sprouting an entirely new plant.
Life cycle
- 1.seedA dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
- 2.sproutA first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
- 3.saplingA young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
- 4.matureFully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.
Learn more
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Plantae
- Phylum
- Tracheophyta
- Class
- Magnoliopsida
- Order
- Solanales
- Family
- Solanaceae
- Genus
- Solanum
- Species
- Solanum tuberosum