The potato is a root vegetable native to the Americas, a starchy tuber of the plant Solanum tuberosum, and the plant itself is a perennial in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. Genetic testing of the wide variety of cultivars and wild species traced a single origin for potatoes in present-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia. Potatoes were domesticated approximately 7,000-10,000 years ago there from a species in the Solanum brevicaule complex.

Common Vegetables

In everyday usage, a vegetable is any part of a plant that humans consume as part of a savory meal.

The term "vegetable" is somewhat arbitrary and largely defined through culinary and cultural tradition. It normally excludes other food derived from fruits, nuts, and cereal grains, including seeds such as pulses.