Unusual Facts about Common Garden Vegetables - The Potato

"Of the two thousand or so species in the bulging genus Solanum, about 170 are tuber-bearers. Of the tuber-bearers, only eight are routinely cultivated and eaten by people, and most of these have stuck pretty close to home in the Andes of Peru. Only one has reached international stardom: S. tuberosum, commonly known as the potato. The potato probably originated in Peru, where indications are that it was domesticated over six thousand years ago by high-altitude-dwelling ancestors of the Incas."

Blue Corn and Square Tomatoes: Unusual Facts about Common Garden Vegetables.
By Rebecca Rupp. Garden Way Publishing 1987.