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The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial nightshade ''Solanum tuberosum'' L. The word "potato" may refer either to the plant itself or to the edible tuber.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Potato - Definition of potato by Merriam-Webster )〕 In the Andes, where the species is indigenous, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species. Potatoes were introduced outside the Andes region approximately four centuries ago, and have since become an integral part of much of the world's food supply. It is the world's fourth-largest food crop, following maize, wheat, and rice. The green leaves and green skins of tubers exposed to the light are toxic. Wild potato species can be found throughout the Americas from the United States to southern Chile. The potato was originally believed to have been domesticated independently in multiple locations,〔University of Wisconsin-Madison, ''Finding rewrites the evolutionary history of the origin of potatoes'' (2005) ()〕 but later genetic testing of the wide variety of cultivars and wild species proved a single origin for potatoes in the area of present-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia (from a species in the ''Solanum brevicaule'' complex), where they were domesticated approximately 7,000–10,000 years ago. Following centuries of selective breeding, there are now over a thousand different types of potatoes.〔 Over 99% of the presently cultivated potatoes worldwide descended from varieties that originated in the lowlands of south-central Chile, which have displaced formerly popular varieties from the Andes. However, the local importance of the potato is variable and changing rapidly. It remains an essential crop in Europe (especially eastern and central Europe), where per capita production is still the highest in the world, but the most rapid expansion over the past few decades has occurred in southern and eastern Asia. As of 2007 China led the world in potato production, and nearly a third of the world's potatoes were harvested in China and India.〔 ==Etymology== The English word ''potato'' comes from Spanish ''patata'' (the name used in Spain). The Spanish Royal Academy says the Spanish word is a compound of the Taino ''batata'' (sweet potato) and the Quechua ''papa'' (potato). The name potato originally referred to a type of sweet potato although the two plants are not closely related; in many of the chronicles detailing agriculture and plants, no distinction is made between the two. The 16th-century English herbalist John Gerard used the terms "bastard potatoes" and "Virginia potatoes" for this species, and referred to sweet potatoes as "common potatoes". Potatoes are occasionally referred to as "Irish potatoes" or "white potatoes" in the United States, to distinguish them from sweet potatoes.〔 The name spud for a small potato comes from the digging of soil (or a hole) prior to the planting of potatoes. The word has an unknown origin and was originally (c. 1440) used as a term for a short knife or dagger, probably related to Dutch ''spyd'' or the Latin "spad-" a word root meaning "sword"; cf. Spanish "espada", English "spade" and "spadroon". The word spud traces back to the 16th century. It subsequently transferred over to a variety of digging tools. Around 1845, the name transferred to the tuber itself.〔David Wilton, Ivan Brunetti; p94 ''Word myths: debunking linguistic urban legends;'' Oxford University Press US; 2004; ISBN 0-19-517284-1〕 The origin of the word "spud" has erroneously been attributed to a 19th-century activist group dedicated to keeping the potato out of Britain, calling itself The Society for the Prevention of an Unwholesome Diet.〔 It was Mario Pei's 1949 ''The Story of Language'' that can be blamed for the word's false origin. Pei writes, "the potato, for its part, was in disrepute some centuries ago. Some Englishmen who did not fancy potatoes formed a Society for the Prevention of Unwholesome Diet. The initials of the main words in this title gave rise to spud." Like most other pre-20th century acronymic origins, this is false.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「potato」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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