Question: How did potatoes evolve into what they are now

Ali Hill answered on 22 Jun 2018:

So I looked this up. Apparently they evolved from the nightshade family of plants (which are poisonous) about 350 million years ago. Other plants that evolved from nightshade family are tomatoes, chilli and tobacco. It evolved into the potato in the Andean highlands, where people started growing it for food. I guess it was the case of most foods that have evolved in that we worked out it tasted good, so started picking and breeding the plants where the potatoes tasted best or had the most potatoes. So the plants with the best potatoes would be the ones that people cultivated, and they’d become more common and ta dah! The potato has evolved.

Hope that answers your question! 🥔👊