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Lycopersicon
EntityQ544652· pop 13· linked from 26 articles

Lycopersicon

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Also known as Solanum sect. Lycopersicon

thumb|Fruit of three cultivars of the common [[tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)]] Lycopersicon was a genus in the flowering plant family Solanaceae (the nightshades and relatives). It contained about 13 species in the tomato group of nightshades. First removed from the genus Solanum by Philip Miller in 1754, its removal leaves the latter genus paraphyletic, so modern botanists generally accept the names in Solanum. The name Lycopersicon (from Greek λυκοπέρσικον meaning "wolf peach") is a reference to German folklore about members of the nightshade family being used to summon werewolves, and still

Species

GENUS

  1. KingdomPlantae
  2. PhylumTracheophyta
  3. ClassMagnoliopsida
  4. OrderSolanales
  5. FamilySolanaceae
Observations recorded1,191

via GBIF

Museum specimens

Specimen records
150
With media
73
Family
Solanaceae
Collections
CICY, UNICACH, UACH, INECOL, IBUNAM, RSA
Recorded in
Mexico, United States, Peru, Brasil, Ecuador, Equador

~4 min read

Encyclopedic overview

4 sections
Contents
  • Selected species
  • Other "wild tomatoes"
  • References
  • Further reading

thumb|Fruit of three cultivars of the common [[tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)]] Lycopersicon was a genus in the flowering plant family Solanaceae (the nightshades and relatives). It contained about 13 species in the tomato group of nightshades. First removed from the genus Solanum by Philip Miller in 1754, its removal leaves the latter genus paraphyletic, so modern botanists generally accept the names in Solanum. The name Lycopersicon (from Greek λυκοπέρσικον meaning "wolf peach") is a reference to German folklore about members of the nightshade family being used to summon werewolves, and still used by gardeners, farmers, and seed companies. Collectively, the species in this group apart from the common cultivated plant are called wild tomatoes.

Cladistic analysis of DNA sequence data confirms Lycopersicon as a clade that is part of a lineage of nightshades also including the potato (S. tuberosum). If it is desired to continue use of Lycopersicon, it can be held as a section inside the potato-tomato subgenus whose name has to be determined in accordance with the ICBN.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Lycopersicon” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (6)