Lycopersicon esculentum

Family:SOLANACEAE
Species:Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.
Common Name:Garden Tomato
Habitat:**
Associated Ecological Communities:**
Growth Habit:Herb
Duration:Annual
Category:Vascular
USDA Symbol:LYES
Plant Notes:Garden Tomato is an introduced herbaceous annual in the Nightshade family (Solanaceae). It is native to Central and western South America. Garden Tomato is widely cultivated for its edible fruit in gardens throughout the state and is sometimes collected as a waif. Garden Tomato occurs in disturbed urban areas (especially near produce stands or picnic tables), along roads and railroads, along streams (especially those receiving stormwater run-off from urban areas), around waste water treatment plants, in fields and gardens, and on sewage sludge. It is a decumbent, sprawling, indeterminate vine to 6-8 feet in length. It often roots when in contact with the soil. The stems are freely branched, green in color, and viscid pubescent. Leaves are alternate, petiolate, pubescent, irregularly lobed to bipinnatifid, with the segments coarsely lobed. The foliage has a strong odor when crushed. Flowers are produced in axillary or terminal panicles. Individual flowers have a pubescent green calyx with 5 linear lobes. The corolla is yellow with 5 recurved lobes. The five yellow stamens are united, and there is a single style. The fruit is an edible red or yellow berry. Garden Tomato has a long history of cultivation and many varieties and cultivars have been developed. It is the most popular vegetable grown by home gardeners in the United States. Technically speaking, a structure formed from an angiosperm's ovary and containing seed is a fruit. However, the Supreme Court of the United States in the 1893 Nix v. Hedden case declared they were vegetables because of the way they were consumed: “Vegetables are things usually served at dinner in, with, or after the soup, fish, or meats ... and not, like fruits generally, as dessert."—A. Diamond.
Taxonomic Notes:**
Status:Not Persisting, Not Native
References:**
Specimen: View specimen details in the Alabama Herbarium Consortium Specimen Database

** Not applicable or data not available.

Classification

FamilySOLANACEAE - Nightshade/Potato family
Genus Lycopersicon
Species Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. - Garden Tomato

Citation

Citation Lycopersicon esculentum Miller, Gard. Dict. (ed. 8) Lycopersicon no. 2. 1768.
Basionym: **
Type: **

** Not applicable or data not available.

Synonyms

SynonymFull CitationBasionymType
Lycopersicon lycopersicum    
Solanum lycopersicum    

Specimens and Distribution

This species has been reported in the following counties by the herbaria listed. An overview of the individual specimens are provided in the table that follows. Click on the accession number to view details; click on column headers to sort; choose a county or herbaria to filter the specimen data.

Counties included on distribution map: Baldwin, Blount, Butler, Calhoun, Coffee, Covington, DeKalb, Etowah, Jefferson, Lawrence, Marshall, Mobile, Montgomery, Pike, St. Clair

Counties represented by specimen data listed below:

Herbaria represented by specimen data listed below: JSU, TROY, UNA, UWAL, UWFP

Range of years during which specimens were collected: -

Barcode / Accession No. County Coll. Date Collector &
Collection No.
Herbarium &
Herbarium Name Used
Image
JSU135104 St. Clair 1 Nov 1984 Partain, S.P.
s.n.
JSU
Solanum lycopersicum Linnaeus
JSU135102 Jefferson 17 Oct 1975 Whetstone, R. David
6898
JSU
Solanum lycopersicum Linnaeus
UNA00060536 Mobile 25 Jul 1966 Deramus, Rebecca
D969
UNA
Lycopersicon esculentum P. Mill.
JSU135103 Marshall 4 Jun 1992 Spaulding, Daniel D.
1895
JSU
Solanum lycopersicum Linnaeus
UWAL0043357 Baldwin 06 Aug 2004 Larsen, Harry S.
1421
UWAL
Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.
UWAL0036656 Lawrence 03 Nov 2017 England, J. Kevin
8651
UWAL
Solanum lycopersicum Linnaeus
TROY000035170 Pike 15 Aug 2012 Diamond, Alvin R.
23228
TROY
Lycopersicon esculentum Miller
JSU139547 Jefferson 11 Jun 2000 Spaulding, Daniel D.
10877
JSU
Solanum lycopersicum Linnaeus
TROY000051647 Montgomery 05 Nov 2020 Diamond, Alvin R.
29521
TROY
Solanum lycopersicum Linnaeus
TROY000035286 Butler 29 Jun 2012 Diamond, Alvin R.
23207
TROY
Lycopersicon esculentum Miller
UNA00054311 Blount 11 Jul 1998 Keener, Brian R.
1197
UNA
Lycopersicon esculentum P. Mill.
UWFP017542 Baldwin 08 Nov 2003 James R. Burkhalter
19718
UWFP
Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.
JSU135101 Etowah 3 May 1995 Hodge, Lesley M.
4208
JSU
Solanum lycopersicum Linnaeus
TROY000009235 Covington 12 Nov 1999 MacDonald, John R.
13678
TROY
Lycopersicon esculentum Miller
JSU134440 DeKalb 8 Oct 1994 Spaulding, Daniel D.
6648
JSU
Solanum lycopersicum Linnaeus
TROY000009234 Coffee 02 Nov 2002 Colbert, Steven
s.n.
TROY
Lycopersicon esculentum Miller
JSU134439 Calhoun 26 Sep 1986 Lawler, Carol L.
1283
JSU
Solanum lycopersicum Linnaeus
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