Solanum tuberosum
English : potato Spanish : patata Estonian : harilik kartul Portuguese : batata Albanian : patate Turkish : patates Catalan : patatera
Potato plants are herbaceous perennials that grow about 60 cm high . There are about 5,000 potato varieties worldwide . Three thousand of them are found in the Andes alone , mainly in Peru , Bolivia , Ecuador , Chile , and Colombia .
Potatoes were introduced to Europe in the second half of the 16th century by the Spanish .
Flowers
Colour : white , blue , red- or blue-violet with yellow stamens .
Number of petals : 5
Leaves Oddly curled straightforward .
Number of leaflets : 7
Fruit Potato plants produce small green fruits that resemble green cherry tomatoes , each containing about 300 seeds . Like all parts of the plant except the tubers , the fruit contain the toxic alkaloid solanine .
Authors : Raina Kolk , Karolina Mõttus , Albert Betrián Guiu , Hugo Sanahuja Segura , Pablo Monje , Juanma Guerola