Question

Botanical name of the potato is
A) Solanum tuberosum
B) Manihot esculenta
C) Malus pumila
D) Piper nigrum

Answer 1

Hint: Native to the Americans, the potato is a type of a perennial root vegetable belonging to the family Solanaceae.

Complete Answer:
Let us first understand what a botanical name is . A botanical name or the scientific name conforms with the International Code of Nomenclature for categorizing the algae, plants, and fungi varieties.

Option A: The common name of Solanum tuberosum is potato. The first part of the botanical name consists of genus while the second portion consists of species.
- Potato plants are categorized as herbaceous perennials growing to a height of around 60 cm high dependent on the variety of the plants.
- The leaves of this plant die back after the plant surpasses the stages of flowering, fruiting, and tuber formation. These plants contain flowers of varied colours such as white or pink or red or blue with yellow coloured stamens.
- In general, the variety of tubers possesses white flowers with bright white skin while all those varieties with colourful flowers have pinkish tinge on their skin. Therefore, this is the correct option.

Option B: Manihot esculenta is commonly referred to as cassava. Therefore, this is the incorrect option.

Option C: Malus pumila is commonly referred to as the paradise apple. Therefore, this is the incorrect option.

Option D: Piper nigrum is commonly referred to as the black pepper. Therefore, this is the incorrect option.

Thus, the correct option A) Solanum tuberosum.

Note: Solanum tuberosum or the potato occurs in around 5000 different varieties. There are various uses of potato,
Potatoes can be baked, boiled or fired and consumed
- They are a good source of potassium, vitamin C, fibre, etc.
- They can be used as an anti-inflammatory agent.
- They can be helpful to regulate blood pressure.