Japanese name: ジャガイモ Scientific name:Solanum tuberosum
[Overview]
A perennial 60–100 cm tall.
The stem is erect.
The leaves are alternate and odd-pinnately compound.
The flowers are borne in compound cymes arising from the leaf axils; the corolla is star-shaped with 5 lobes, and the flower color is white, purple, pale pink, and so on.
The fruit is a spherical berry that ripens red.
[History]
It is said to have originated on the shores of Lake Titicaca in the Andes of South America.
It reached Europe around the 15th–16th centuries.
It was introduced to Japan from Java by the Dutch (or by merchant ships).
There are several theories about the year of introduction, but it was around 1600.
Later, in the 18th century, it came to be cultivated as a famine relief crop.
From the Meiji era onward, with the introduction of superior varieties, it came to be cultivated in earnest.
