#1826 -Â Solanum lycopersicum - Tomato
Most of the species I noted at Lake Richmond the other day werenât natives (pretty much like the Double-banded Plover in that respect) but since I havenât covered most of the species before, I may as well do so now.
I spotted this shriveled weed with rock-hard orange fruit, and was pretty sure it was something in the Solanaceae, but I certainly facepalmed when the AgDept told me it was the best-known Solanaceae in the world.Â
Tomatoes are native to Central and South America, where they were first domesticated as an foodplant at least as early as 500BC. The vines have weak stems and usually need to be supported with a trellis or stake, and the berries have a strong umami flavour. The Mexican Nahuatl word tomatl - âswelling fruitâ or âfat thingâ - became tomato after the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs and the introduction of the plant to Europe. The related tomatillo (Physalis philadelphica and Physalis ixocarpa) is tomate. When the Aztecs started to cultivate the fruit to be larger, sweeter and red, they called the new variety xitomatl - âplump with navelâ or âfat water with navelâ.Â
Franciscan friar Bernardino de SahagĂşn reported seeing a great variety of tomatoes in the Aztec market at TenochtitlĂĄn - â⌠large tomatoes, small tomatoes, leaf tomatoes, sweet tomatoes, large serpent tomatoes, nipple-shaped tomatoes,â and tomatoes of all colors from the bright red to deep yellow. He also noted that they were used in a wide range of dishes.Â
The earliest appearance of the tomato in European literature appeared in Italian physician and botanist Pietro Andrea Mattioliâs 1544 herbal, who suggested that a new type of eggplant (another solanaceous species) that was blood red or golden color when mature and could be divided into segments and eaten like an eggplant - cooked and seasoned with salt, black pepper, and oil. It was not until ten years later that tomatoes were named in print by Mattioli as pomi d'oro, or âgolden applesâ.
In some parts of Europe, it was initially regarded with suspicion because of its close relatives in the Nightshade genus, and because of the way its acidic juice reacted with pewter tablewear. They were still grown as ornamentals.Â
The tomato was introduced to China, likely via the Philippines or Macau, in the 1500s, and was given the name fÄnqiĂŠÂ - âbarbarian eggplantâ.
In 1753, Linnaeus placed the tomato in the genus Solanum (alongside the potato) as Solanum lycopersicum, the specific from the Greek for âwolf peachâ. In 1768, Philip Miller moved it to its own genus, naming it Lycopersicon esculentum, although Linnaeusâs species name lycopersicum still had priority. Lycopersicum lycopersicum was suggested by Karsten in 1888, but the International Code of Nomenclature barred the use of tautonyms in botanical nomenclature. Lycopersicon lycopersicum (Nicolson 1974) was technically valid, but since Lycopersicon esculentum has become so well known, it was officially listed as a nomen conservandum in 1983, and would be the correct name for the tomato in classifications which donât place the tomato in the genus Solanum. So itâs perhaps annoying that genetic evidence indicates Linnaeus was right and it should have stayed Solanum lycopersicum the whole time.
vaporwave
amandla
stormborns
tangentwithtanner
germansingergirl
