Potato, which is the English term for Solanum tuberosum, is a Carib loanwor. It was first "borrowed" by the Spanish, who used the word patata to describe the root crop Ipomoea batatas, or sweet potato, which was introduced to Spain by Columbus in 1492. The sweet potato was known to the English herbalist Gerard as "the common Potatoes" more than a century later, in 1597. Antoine-Augustin Parmentier (Montdidier August 12, 1737 – December 13, 1813) and Sir Walter G. Raleigh are both remembered as vocal promoters of cultivating the potato as a food source (for humans) in Ireland, England, France, and throughout the rest of Europe.