Potato
Solanum tuberosum L.
Botanical family: Solanaceae
Solanum tuberosum, domesticated in the Andes, around Lake Titicaca, about 8,000 years ago. The Spanish brought it from Peru to Europe in the 16th century; it is now grown almost everywhere. Sources: FAO, “The potato's travel through ages and continents” (2024); Tela Botanica, “Solanum tuberosum L.” (Coste's flora).
Full sun
Friable, slightly acid
Regular
Frost-tender: the slightest frost damages the foliage; tubers are stored frost-free
Frost-tender in your zone
Role in permaculture
Good companions
Fix nitrogen from the air (legumes)
Trap plants (variable effect, need watching)
Aromatic: scent said to confuse pests
Traditional companion planting (benefit not demonstrated)
Poor companions
Same family: shared diseases and pests
Allelopathy, reputed or observed: may slow some neighbours
Competition (water, light, roots)
Traditional avoidance (antagonism not demonstrated)
Insects attracted or useful
Known pests & diseases
Pests and diseases that commonly affect this plant, tap to learn how to recognise and manage them.
Seasons & availability
New potatoes in spring, keeping varieties all year round.
Available: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December.
Guidance for the oceanic / temperate climate; it may vary with your region, altitude, exposure and growing method.
Sources
- RHS, « How to Grow Potatoes » (rhs.org.uk/vegetables/potatoes/grow-your-own)
- Garden Organic, « Potatoes » (gardenorganic.org.uk/expert-advice/how-to-grow/growing-guides/vegetables-herbs-guides/how-to-grow-potatoes)
Nutritional & medicinal properties
For educational purposes. Not a substitute for medical advice. Effects depend on the form, the dose and personal context.
Precautions & contraindications
Greened or sprouted tubers can contain more glycoalkaloids (solanine), which are toxic: gastro-intestinal irritation, even neurological disorders at high doses. Discard any greened or distinctly bitter potato. The leaves and flowers are also toxic (nightshade family).
Family behaviour: Solanaceae
In general, Solanaceae are very hungry for nitrogen and prone to blight (Phytophthora infestans). They like heat, sun and a rich soil.
Understanding families means learning one rule per family rather than every pairing one by one. Learn more →
Species & varieties
The best-known species and varieties in France.
Common varieties
Voices of peoples
Paraphrases attributed to their documented sources. Never an invented quote.
Pedro Cieza de León, Spanish chronicler, describing the Aymara and Quechua peoples of the Collao · The high plateau of the Collao and the shores of Lake Titicaca (present-day Peru and Bolivia), around 1549–1550; work published in Seville in 1553
In the Primera parte de la Crónica del Perú (1553), Pedro Cieza de León gives one of the first printed descriptions of the papa: a root he compares to 'turmas de tierra', earth truffles, which the inhabitants of the Collao boil then dry in the sun (the chuño process) to obtain a long-keeping food. What the chronicler explicitly records is the tuber, the sun-drying, the name chuño, and its keeping time; the night-freezing stage, quite real in the Andean process, is detailed only by later witnesses. Reading the papa as a gift of the Pachamama, honoured with offerings of coca at sowing and harvest, belongs to later ethnographic observations that it would be imprudent to project as-is onto this period.
Pedro Cieza de León, Primera parte de la Crónica del Perú (Séville, 1553), chapitres consacrés au Collao ; notes achevées à Lima le 8 septembre 1550.
The colonial testimony (Cieza, 1550–1553) is distinct from modern ritual reconstructions (Pachamama, pago a la tierra), widely documented in ethnography but later. The '1540' dating, which circulates, is false. No single 'sacred' relationship: uses varied from one Andean community to another. No dietary or medicinal benefit is presented here as an established fact.