NIGHTSHADE FAMILY 



Stem. — Spreading, straggling, hairy, leafy. 



Leaves. — Irregularly or interruptedly pinnate, varying in different 

 garden forms. Leaflets of different sizes and shapes, main leaflets more 

 or less notched or lobed. 



Flowers. — Yellow, star-like, borne in few-flowered forking racemes, 

 axillary. 



Calyx. — Of five to six sepals, persistent in fruit. 



Corolla. — Rotate, yellow, border five to six-lobed, phcate-valvate. 



Stamens. — Five or six inserted on corolla-tube; filaments short; 

 anthers grown together, tips spreading. 



Ovary. — In primitive, two-ceUed; in present garden forms many- 

 celled. Style short; stigma obscurely three-lobed. Ovules many. 



Fruit. — A many-seeded berry — the garden tomato, red or yellow. 



The primitive form of our garden Tomato is a plant native to the 



western side of South America. 

 It has been imder cultivation at 

 least three hundred years; two 

 hundred years ago both red and 

 yellow varieties were known. 

 Notwithstanding this long period, 

 the great development of the To- 

 mato occurred in the last half of 

 the nineteenth century, giving 

 rise to the present garden race. 

 Inasmuch as all the efforts of the 

 gardeners have been directed 

 toward the development and the 

 improvement of the fruit, what 

 changes have occurred in the 

 habit of the plant, in the flower and leaf, have been casual and 

 permitted rather than sought. 



Considerable variation in the leaves marks the different mem- 

 bers of the garden race, but the flowers have varied little from 

 the primitive. This follows the solanum type; the five or six- 

 pointed yellow star, the corolla-lobes alternating with the green 

 lobes of the calyx. The large anthers grown together make the 

 conical tube in the centre, and out of the aperture at the summit 



395 



Garden Tomato. LycopSrsicum vtUgare 



