Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.: Xitématl, jito- 
mate, pak, tomato. 
The wild species of Lycopersicon are native to western 
South America, and it has long been thought that the 
cultivated tomato was brought into Europe from Peru. 
Jenkins (107), however, has given good reasons for be- 
heving that the tomato was introduced, with its Mexican 
name, from Mexico to Kurope. It appears that the to- 
mato was cultivated in southern Mexico and Veracruz, 
but not in the central Mexican highlands, where Physalis 
(q. v.) was, and still is, more important. The cherry to- 
mato, L. esculentum var. cerasiforme (Dun.) A. Gray, 
the ancestral form, is now a pan-tropic weed. It is 
thought by Jenkins that it may have spread as a weed 
from South America to Mexico where it was brought 
into cultivation. It may be that the development of large- 
fruited forms was facilitated outside of the native home, 
because the absence of the normal pollinating agents 
forced self-pollination (161). (107*, 111, 112, 142, 161) 
Manihot esculenta Crantz (M. utilissima Pohl), 
M. dulcis (J. ’. Gmel.) Paw (M. Aipi Pohl): Quauh- 
cdmotl, guacamote, yuca, Manioc. 
Manioc, a starchy root crop, was cultivated as a vege- 
table in Mexico, though not of such importance there as 
in some other areas, where it is a staple food. ‘The genus 
is deserving of careful study, and it is uncertain, from 
the available literature, whether MW. dulcis is not one of the 
‘*sweet”’ varieties of M. esculenta. The plants of Mexico 
appear to have been largely of these ‘‘sweet’’ or less 
poisonous forms (4, 177). Manioc is generally thought 
to be of Brazilian origin, but, here too, a careful study 
is much to be desired. (4, 35, 71, 98, 118, 138, 177a, 179, 
191, 194*, 196, 202) 
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