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Vegetables & garden · Solanum tuberosum

Explore together · A short start and more to discover

Discovering potato tubers

Flauschi shows Puschel a harvested potato. Flauschi“It has eyes but never looks back.”

Flauschi shows a small eye on a brown potato while Puschel looks curiously at it beside a harvest crate.
Flauschi shows a small eye on a brown potato while Puschel looks curiously at it beside a harvest crate.

The short answer

A potato tuber is a swollen underground stem, not a root. It stores reserves. New shoots can grow from its eyes, which are buds. Green or sprouting potatoes are not for tasting.

Flauschi shows a small eye on a brown potato while Puschel looks curiously at it beside a harvest crate.
Flauschi shows a small eye on a brown potato while Puschel looks curiously at it beside a harvest crate.

See the connection

Which part stores reserves?: The green line in this model represents an underground side stem ending in a swollen tuber. Brown thin lines are roots. The dots on the tuber are buds called eyes. Brown line: soil surface.
Which part stores reserves?The green line in this model represents an underground side stem ending in a swollen tuber. Brown thin lines are roots. The dots on the tuber are buds called eyes. Brown line: soil surface.

Simplified drawings, not to scale. Not a guide for identifying species.

An imagined Wusel scene

Puschel and Flauschi investigate

Flauschi shows Puschel a harvested potato. Flauschi“It has eyes but never looks back.”

Puschel tilts his head. Flauschi points out a small dimple with a bud. More brown tubers lie in the crate.

Puschel“Then it needs no glasses,” he says. The potatoes go to an adult in the kitchen; the two do not nibble any raw.

Discover

Potato tubers grow underground at the swollen ends of underground stems. They are storage organs, not roots.

Understand

The small “eyes” of a potato are places with buds. New shoots can grow from them.

Connections

Garden potatoes are usually grown from seed potatoes: selected tubers, not seeds. Tubers need to stay covered by soil; light can turn them green.

Little Wusel quiz

Is a potato tuber a root like a carrot?

Show answer

No. A potato tuber is a swollen underground stem; a carrot is a storage root.

Explore in more detail

Here you will find longer explanations and further details. You can explore them together.

Why can potato eyes grow shoots?

A potato tuber is a swollen underground stem. Its eyes contain buds that can produce shoots using reserves in the tuber. Roots do not have stem buds arranged as recognisable eyes. A potato is therefore not botanically a thick root.

Compare and understand

Above ground, flowers may also produce small green berries. These are poisonous and must not be eaten; tubers are different plant parts. Green or heavily sprouted tubers are unsuitable for children’s food too. Adults choose and prepare suitable potatoes. Do not taste shoots.

Sources for this explanation
Pictures and sources for adults