STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 343 



L. ruthenictun Murr. Russian box thorn. 



Orient. The small, sweet and flavorless berry is eaten in India.' 



Lycopersicum esculentum Mill. Solanaceae. gold apple, love apple, tomato. 



Tropical America. Bancroft ^ states the tomato was eaten by the wild tribes of 

 Mexico and by the Nahua nations who called it tomati. Humboldt ' says it was called 

 tomati and was sown among maize by the ancient Mexicans. The tomato is mentioned 

 by Acosta/ 1590, as among the products of Mexico. The names, mala Peruviana and 

 pomi del Peru, indicate its transference to Europe from Peru, but Phillips,^ we know not 

 from what authority, say-s the tomato appears to have been brought to Europe from 

 Mexico. In the Treasury of Botany,^ it is said to have been introduced to Europe in the 

 early part of the sixteenth centviry. 



The earliest mention of tomatoes is by Matthiolus,^ iS54, who calls them pomi d'oro 

 and says they have but recently appeared in Italy. In 1570, Pena and Lobel ' give the 

 name gold apple in the German, Belgian, French and English languages, which indicates 

 their presence in those countries at this date. In 1578, Lyte ' says they are only grown 

 in England in the gardens of " Herboristes." Camerarius, in his Epitome, 1586,"' gives 

 the French name of pommes d' amours, which corresponds to Lyte's amorous apples; and, 

 in his Hortus Medicus, 1588," he gives the names of pomum Indium, and the foreign name 

 of tumatle ex tumatle americanorum. Anguillara, 1561, calls them poma Peruviana.^'' In 

 Hernandez's History of Nova Hispania, 1651, he has a chapter on the tomati, which includes 

 our tomatoes and alkekengis; in 1658, the Portuguese of Java used the word tomatas?^ 

 Acosta,'* however, preceding 1604, used the word tomates, and Sloane,'* in 1695, tomato. 

 Gerarde says he received seeds of the tomato for his garden from Spain, Italy and other 

 hot countries. The date of its appearance in England is hence put for 1596. Gerarde" 

 says (in his second edition) that these love apples are eaten abroad prepared and boiled 

 with pepper, salt and oil and also as a sauce, but " they yield very little nourishment to 

 the bodie, and the same naught and corrupt." C. Bauhin in his Pinax, 1596, calls the 

 plant tumatle Americanorum. In 1656, Parkinson *^ mentions the tomato as being culti- 



1 Brandis, D. Forest Fl. 345. 1876. 



' Bancroft, H. H. Native Races 1:624, 653, 1875. 



Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 615. 1879. 



Acosta Nat. Mor. Hist. Ind. Hakl. Sex:. Ed. 1:240. 1880. 

 ' Phillips, H. Comp. Orch. 225. 1831. 



Treas. Bot. 2:701. 1870. 



' Matthiolus Cofmn<. 479. 15581684. 1570. 

 Pena and Lobel ^diieri. 108. 1570:108. 1576. 

 Dodoens Herb. 508. 1578. Lyte Ed. 

 ' Camerarius /n7. 82 1 . 1586. 

 " Camerarius Hort. Med. 130. 1588. 

 "Gray, A. Amer. Journ. Set. 128. 1883. 

 "Bontius De /mi. 131. 1658. 



" Acosta Nat. Mor. Hist. Ind. 266. 1604. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 1880. 

 " Sloane, H. Cat. 109. 1696. 

 " Gerarde, J. Herb, ist Ed. 275. 1597. 

 " Parkinson Par. Terr. 379. 1904. (Reprint of 1629) 



