Bry's collection of Voyages. Under the article "Roots," he describes a
plant which he calls Opanawk. "These roots," he says, "are round, some
as large as a walnut, others much larger; they grow in damp soil, many
hanging together as if fixed with ropes. They are good food either
boiled or roasted." This must strike anyone as a very accurate
description of the potato. Gerarde, in his Herbal, published in 1597,
gives a figure of the potato under the name of the potato of Virginia.
He asserts that he received the roots from that country, and that they
were denominated Naremberga.

Raleigh's expedition, which seems to have been already prepared, sailed
in April, and having taken possession of that portion of America which
was afterwards named Virginia, in honour of Queen Elizabeth, and by her
own express desire, returned to England about the middle of September of
the same year. Although, as already stated, in all likelihood the potato
of Virginia was introduced into England and Ireland by that expedition,
Sir Joseph Banks was of opinion that the root had come to Europe
earlier. His reasons for thinking so are: 1. Clusius, otherwise
L'Ecluse, the great botanist, when residing in Vienna, in 1598, received
the potato from the Governor of Mons, in Hainault, who had obtained it
the year before from one of the attendants of the Pope's Legate under
the name of Taratouflè,[4] and learned from him that in Italy, where it
was then in use, no person knew whether it came from Spain or America.
From this we may conclude that the root was in Italy before it was
brought to England; for this conversation happened only three years
after the sailing of the expedition of 1584. It is further very
probable that the root found its way from Spain into Italy, as those
parts of America, where the potato was indigenous, were then subject to
Spain. 2. Peter Cicca, in his Chronicle of 1553, says, the inhabitants
of Quito and its vicinity have, besides mays (maize), a tuberous root