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LOVE-APPLE. SOLANUM LYCOPERSICUM ; 



OR, TOMATO-BERRY. 



Natural order, Lurida. A genus of the Pentandria 

 Monogynia class. 



THE love-apple, or tomato, is the fruit of the lycoper- 

 sion, an herbaceous branching plant, or vine, with a hairy 

 stem, and a rank smell ; on which account it was formerly 

 called Malum Aureum odore fatido, the stinking golden 

 apple. It was also called the wolf's peach, from lyco- 

 persion. 



It is a native of South America, and, in all probability, 

 of Mexico ; from whence it appears to have been brought 

 by the Spaniards, who, as Barham observes, use it in 

 their sauces and gravies ; because the juice, as they say, 

 is as good as any gravy, and so by its richness warms 

 the blood. 



Dodoens, in his Pemptades, published at Antwerp in 

 1583, describes it as growing at that time in the conti- 

 nental gardens, and says, that its fruit was eaten dressed 

 with pepper, salt, and oil. 



Parkinson, whose works were published in 1656, men- 

 tions it as being cultivated in England for ornament and 

 curiosity only. Even at the present time they are grown 

 in many gardens in the country, merely for the singu- 

 larity of their appearance, varying very much in size and 



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