White Potato

4/18/2010

Solanum tuberosum, more commonly known as the white potato, is native to South America; but strives in a variety of regions. Potatoes belong to the nightshade family and can produce a toxic alkaloid if exposed to sunlight during growth. Potatoes are a great crop to grow because they are a root crop. Root crops are not susceptible to natural disasters such as hurricanes because they grow below the earth. Potatoes also provide high doses of carbohydrates, thus providing for a filling meal. Potatoes are not only used as a food, but are also used as a starch and an ingredient in the production of alcohol, such as vodka. Potatoes are of course used in the production of potato chips and French fries. But potatoes are not a significant source of protein. Potatoes yields per acre are significantly higher than that of cereal crops such as wheat, rice, and corn. Although the potato is considered a root crop, it is not actually a root, but rather an underground stem, or tuber. The modern day potatoes are tetraploids.
The Irish relied heavily on the potato due to its inexpensive nature and fairly small quantity of land needed to cultivate. When the disease, potato blight, infested most potatoes in 1845 it caused the Great Irish Famine, in which an estimated 1.5 million died from starvation.