Potato
species of plant (for the food, use Q16587531)
The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant Solanum tuberosum, a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern United States to southern Chile. Genetic studies show that the cultivated potato has a single origin, in the area of present-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia. Potatoes were domesticated there about 7,000–10,000 years ago from a species in the S. brevicaule complex. Many varieties of the potato are cultivated in the Andes region of South America, where the species is indigenous.
The Spanish introduced potatoes to Europe in the second half of the 16th century from the Americas. They are a staple food in many parts of the world and an integral part of much of the world's food supply. Following centuries of selective breeding, there are now over 5,000 different varieties of potatoes. The potato remains an essential crop in Europe, especially Northern and Eastern Europe, where per capita production is still the highest in the world, while the most rapid expansion in production during the 21st century was in southern and eastern Asia, with China and India leading the world production as of 2023.
The public source identifies “Potato” as species of plant (for the food, use Q16587531). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Potato, species and plant.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Potato”, the useful work is to connect “species of plant (for the food, use Q16587531)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q10998. The Library of Congress control number is sh85105652. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2023.
Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.
Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “Potato” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.