Solanaceae
family(Solanum tuberosum)
Solanaceae
family
Potatoes are the world's fourth most important crop, in terms of production. The potato was first domesticated thousands of years ago in the Andes Mountains of South America. The potato tuber is not a root, but rather modified stem storage tissue. Although potatoes can theoretically be propagated either by asexual tuber cuttings (eyes) or by true seed, modern potato cultivars have been bred to emphasize asexual reproductive capacity. Modern improved cultivars are autotetraploids, 2n=4x=48. There are many related wild species, including a series of non-tuber forming diploids in Mexico. Potatoes are also close relatives of eggplant, tomato, tomatillo, and pepper. The Irish potato famine of the mid-1800s was responsible for the migration of more than a million Irish people to the US and was due to a lack of genetic resistance to the late blight fungus, Phytophthora infestans. Due to its vegetative propagation, potato is more susceptible than many other crops to viral pathogens that can be transmitted through tuber propagules. The two most common potatoes eaten in the US are the Russet Burbank (left, above) and the red potato (right, above).