Question for botanists or potatologists

[Loon]

Finally I get an excuse to make a post about potatoes!

This came up at work yesterday and internet searching only helped some.

We are looking to determine the potato-ness of two different foods. One is, in Japanese, satoimo (Taro) and the other is yamaimo (Japanese Mountain Yam or Japanese Mountain Potato).

So far, all I've come up with is that taro root is often called a potato, but is technically a "corm".

Does anybody here have any insight? What differentiates a potato from a corm?


Bonus questions that sprang out of the discussion:

What makes tomato a fruit? (I think it's that the tomato is the plant's seed pod).

Is avocado a fruit?

Is banana an herb, a spice or a fruit?



Thanks in advance!

 

[richardm]

I'll have a stab:

So far, all I've come up with is that taro root is often called a potato, but is technically a "corm".

Does anybody here have any insight? What differentiates a potato from a corm?

A corm is a bit like a bulb - that is, a thickened part of the stem, underground. A potato is a tuber - a thickened part of the root, underground. I think!

Bonus questions that sprang out of the discussion:

What makes tomato a fruit? (I think it's that the tomato is the plant's seed pod).

Yes - the ovary from the flower turns into a fruit. If you have a strawberry, by the way, the little brown "seeds" on the outside are the actual fruits.

Is avocado a fruit?

Yes.

Is banana an herb, a spice or a fruit?

It's also a fruit.

Hope that's some help. And I hope it's accurate