Abstract The taxonomy of "the potato", Solanum section Petota, encompassing both the wild relatives of the cultivated potato and the cultigen itself, has a long, convoluted history. This chapter briefly summarizes this history, describes the current state of affairs that is influenced heavily by the use of molecular data, and looks at future developments, especially the impact of genomic data. It first deals with what is known about the wild potatoes, and then looks at the various ways the potato crop has been classified. Finally, as more and more genomic data become available, it discusses possible ways the taxonomy of the potato can benefit from these.