Lycopersicon Mill.

Scientific Description

Common name. Tomato. Family Solanaceae.

Habit and leaf form. Herbs; resinous, or not resinous. Plants unarmed. Perennial; plants with neither basal nor terminal concentrations of leaves. Stem internodes solid. Self supporting, or climbing; scrambling. Mesophytic. Leaves alternate; spiral; ‘herbaceous’; petiolate (the leaflets sessile or petiolulate); non-sheathing; aromatic; simple, or compound; epulvinate; when compound, pinnate (often irregularly). Leaflets often somewhat oblique at the base. Leaf blades dissected (pinnately lobed), or entire; ovate; when simple/dissected, pinnatifid; pinnately veined; cross-venulate. Leaves without stipules; without a persistent basal meristem. Leaf anatomy. Hairs present (densely); glandular hairs absent, or present.

Reproductive type, pollination. Fertile flowers hermaphrodite. Unisexual flowers absent. Plants hermaphrodite. Entomophilous.

Inflorescence and flower features. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in cymes (cyme-like), or in racemes (raceme-like). The terminal inflorescence unit cymose. Inflorescences axillary, or leaf-opposed (lateral). Flowers pedicellate; ebracteate; ebracteolate; small to medium-sized; regular; 5 merous; cyclic; tetracyclic. Free hypanthium absent. Hypogynous disk present; intrastaminal. Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla; 10; 2 -whorled; isomerous. Calyx present; 5; 1 -whorled; gamosepalous; deeply 5 blunt-lobed; regular; persistent; non-accrescent. Calyx lobes narrowly ovate. Corolla present; 5 (usually); 1 -whorled; gamopetalous; valvate; stellate; regular; yellow. Corolla lobes narrowly triangular. Androecial members definite in number. Androecium 5. Androecial members adnate; all equal; free of one another; 1 -whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 5. Staminal insertion in the throat of the corolla tube. Stamens all inserted at the same level; all more or less similar in shape; isomerous with the perianth; oppositisepalous (at the base of corolla tube, in the throat of corolla tube). Filaments appendiculate, or not appendiculate. Anthers connivent (form a cone around the style); basifixed; dehiscing via longitudinal slits; introrse; tetrasporangiate; appendaged. The anther appendages apical (conical, sterile). Pollen shed in aggregates, or shed as single grains. Gynoecium 2 carpelled. The pistil 2 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; synstylovarious to eu-syncarpous; superior. Ovary plurilocular; 2 locular. Gynoecium oblique. Ovary sessile. Gynoecium stylate. Styles 1; attenuate from the ovary; apical. Stigmas 1; 2 - lobed (L); capitate. Placentation axile (the placentae more or less swollen). Ovules 20–50 per locule (numerous); non-arillate; anatropous, or hemianatropous.

Fruit and seed features. Fruit fleshy; indehiscent; a berry; 20–100 seeded (numerous). Seeds endospermic. Endosperm oily, or not oily. Seeds compressed. Cotyledons 2. Embryo curved (through more than a semicircle).

Etymology. From the Greek for "wolf" and "peach", possibly alluding to its inferior quality compared with the peach, or to its supposed poisonous properties; erroneously identified with a plant named Lycopersicon by the Greek Galen (c.130–200 AD).