Solanum lycopersicum L.

First published in Sp. Pl.: 185 (1753)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Peru. It is a scrambling subshrub and grows primarily in the wet tropical biome. It is used as animal food, a poison, a medicine and invertebrate food, has environmental uses and social uses and for food.

Descriptions

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R. & Celis, M. (eds.). 2015. Catálogo de plantas y líquenes de Colombia. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. http://catalogoplantasdecolombia.unal.edu.co

Distribution
Cultivada en Colombia; Alt. 100 - 2500 m.; Amazonia, Andes, Islas Caribeñas, Pacífico, Valle del Cauca, Valle del Magdalena.
Morphology General Habit
Hierba, trepadora
[CPLC]

Solanaceae, Jennifer M Edmonds. Oliganthes, Melongena & Monodolichopus, Maria S. Vorontsova & Sandra Knapp. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 2012

Type
Type: “Habitat in America calidiore”, Herb. Linnaeus 248.16 (LINN!, lecto. designated by Deb in Journ. Econ. Bot., 1: 41 (1980)) [see also Knapp & Jarvis in J.L.S. 104: 342, f.12 (1990) & Jarvis, Order out of Chaos: 860 (2007)]
Morphology General
Annual herb, erect, procumbent, trailing or straggling up to 2 m in height, sometimes using associated vegetation for support; branches spreading or ascending, stems fleshy or herbaceous, light to dark green; all parts viscid-pubescent with eglandular and glandular hairs, denser on young vegetative and floral stems
Morphology Leaves
Leaves alternate, imparipinnate, usually strongly aromatic, 9–31 × 6–14 cm with rachides 4.2–14 cm long, usually interrupted imparipinnate with 2–8 pairs of leaflets which light green above, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 3–5(–7) × 1–3.8(–5) cm, bases cordate to cuneate, usually oblique, irregularly and usually deeply incised and serrate to sinuate, apices obtuse, acute or acuminate; surfaces viscid, pubescent below, sparser above, often stipulate and alternating with small entire ovate interstitial leaflets 0.8–1.2 × 0.6–0.7 cm; petioles 1.2–7 cm long, petiolules 0.4–2 cm, often with small pairs of leaflets
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescences leaf-opposed to extra-axillary racemose simple or forked cymes, usually 5–12-flowered; flowers pendent, usually 5partite but often 6–10-partite in cultivars; peduncles 0.5–3.5 cm long in flower, 2–4.8 cm long in fruit; pedicels 4–15 mm long in flower, 1–1.6 cm long in fruit, articulated at or above the middle from where deflexed in flower and in fruit; axes pubescent with short appressed and long spreading glandular-headed hairs
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Calyx campanulate/stellate, divided almost to base, 3.5–11 mm long, densely pubescent externally; lobes narrowly triangular to lanceolate, 3–9 × 0.7–2 mm, acute, strongly reflexed in fruit when 7–14 × 1.5–2.8 mm
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Corolla yellow, with greenish basal star, stellate, 1.4–2.4 cm diameter, tube 0.5–1.3 mm long; lobes narrowly triangular to lanceolate, 5–9 × 1.3–3(–4) mm, glandular-pubescent externally, glabrous internally, strongly reflexed exposing androecium after anthesis
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens
Stamens equal; filaments flat, fused to each other forming a ring, 0.3–0.8 mm long, pubescent to glabrescent; anthers yellow, 5.5–7 × 0.6–1.3 mm, connivent to form a bottle-shaped cone 5–8 × 1.8–3.6 mm with sterile beak, dehiscing by lateral fissures from apex of fertile section
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Ovary
Ovary usually bilocular but plurilocular with false septa in cultivated varieties, 1.3–1.6 × 1.8–2 mm, ridged, glabrous; style straight, 5.5–7.3 × 0.2–0.4 mm, hairy in lower part, usually included, occasionally exserted to 1 mm; stigma green, capitate, sometimes bilobed, 0.2–0.8 × 0.3–0.5 mm
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit red, orange or yellow, globose, ovoid to pyriform berries, 1–10 cm diameter, often depressed or irregularly lobed, glabrous and smooth, pericarp thick, sweet-tasting
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds usually > 100, yellow to light brown, elliptic-ovoid, 3–3.8 × 1.7–2.4 mm, flattened, verrucate, often covered with the remnants of strands of thickening appearing as pseudo-hairs, enclosed in mucilage; sclerotic granules absent.
Ecology
Widely cultivated, and a common to occasional escape on roadsides and in waste places, frequently near habitation; often naturalised on river banks, in marshy areas, woodland, forest areas and open places; spread by birds and baboons; 750–2000 m
Note
Commonly known as the Tomato, Golden- or Love-apple, this species is one of the most important global vegetables which is cultivated in most tropical and temperate countries, but which is now only known in cultivation. Over 500 cultivars have been bred resulting in enormous variations in fruit size, shape and colour. The small-fruited L. esculentum Mill. var . cerasiforme (Dunal) Alef., for example, is commonly known as the cherry tomato. The fruits are eaten raw or cooked, with commercial tomato sauce being made from the berry flesh, while the leaves are used as a vegetable. The species probably originated in Peru or Ecuador from where, in pre-Colombian times, it could have spread north as a weed (cf. Mansfeld, 2001). The considerable morphological diversity found in Mexico suggests that it was first domesticated there, and this may have been the source of the first tomatoes to reach Europe (cf. Heiser, 1969). It is widely grown thoughout Africa; in the floral area it is cultivated for home consumption, and for sale in both local markets and the cities. Nevertheless, African herbarium specimens of this species are rare even though the tomato is considered to be the most important vegetable crop in most West African countries (Rouamba in van den Berg et al. (eds), Solanaceae V: 245–250 (2001)). An extensive list of synonyms of this species – as Lycopersicon esculentum - is given in Mansfeld (2001) together with a bibliography of relevant references and in the more recent publication by Peralta et al. (2008). This species and related taxa contain steroidal glycoalkaloids, with the major component being α-tomatine.
Distribution
Flora districts: U4 K4 T2 T3 T4 Range: Native to the Andes of S America, but now cultivated and escaped throughout the world including Cape Verde Islands, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Cameroon, Bioko, Central African Republic, Congo-Kinshasa, Sudan, Ethiopia, Angola, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimb Range: Madagascar, Comoro Islands, St Helena, Seychelles & Ascension Islands, Rodrigues and Mauritius, S, C & E Europe, the Middle East, India, China, N, C and S America but nowhere truly naturalised
[FTEA]

The Useful Plants of Boyacá project

Ecology
Alt. 100 - 2500 m.
Distribution
Cultivated in Colombia.
Morphology General Habit
Herb.
[UPB]

Distribution
Biogeografic region: Amazonia, Andean, Caribbean, Pacific. Elevation range: 100–2500 m a.s.l. Cultivated in Colombia. Naturalised in Colombia. Colombian departments: Amazonas, Antioquia, Bogotá DC, Boyacá, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Huila, Norte de Santander, Putumayo, San Andrés y Providencia, Valle del Cauca.
Habit
Herb, Climbing.
Ecology
Habitat according IUCN Habitats Classification: forest and woodland, savanna, shrubland, native grassland, wetlands (inland), artificial - terrestrial.
Vernacular
Tomate, Tomate común, Tomate de riñón, Tomate grande
[UPFC]

Vernacular
Bovista
[UPFC]

M. Thulin et al. Flora of Somalia, Vol. 1-4 [updated 2008] https://plants.jstor.org/collection/FLOS

Morphology General Habit
Annual herb, with glandular aromatic hairs
Morphology Leaves
Leaves petiolate; blade at least 10–20 cm long, mostly pinnately divided into ovate-lanceolate, irregularly serrate segments
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Calyx-lobes lanceolate
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Corolla yellow, 2–2.5 cm in diam.; lobes narrowly oblong
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens Anthers
Anthers 6–10 mm long
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Style
Style c. 12 mm long
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Berry red to yellow, subglobose, ovoid or pear-shaped, very variable in size
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds 2–4 mm long, enclosed in mucilage.
Distribution
Widely cultivated in Somalia; native to South America.
Vernacular
Nyaanya, yaanya (Somali); tomato (English).
[FSOM]

Uses

Use Gene Sources
Crop wild relatives which may possess beneficial traits of value in breeding programmes (State of the World's Plants 2016).
Use Food
Food (Cuervo 1999).
Use Medicines Unspecified Medicinal Disorders
Medicinal (Instituto Humboldt 2014).
[UPB]

Use Animal Food
Used as animal food.
Use Environmental
Environmental uses.
Use Gene Sources
Used as gene sources.
Use Food
Used for food.
Use Invertebrate Food
Used as invertebrate food.
Use Materials
Used as material.
Use Medicines
Medical uses.
Use Poisons
Poisons.
Use Social
Social uses.
[UPFC]

Use
Edible fruits
[FSOM]

Common Names

Spanish
Tomate, tomate de riñón, tomate grande, tomate común.

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
  • Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
  • Flora of Somalia

    • Flora of Somalia
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images
  • Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
  • Useful Plants of Boyacá Project

    • ColPlantA database
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/