COMMON THYME 



707 



Uses. — The leaves and young shoots are very often used for 

 seasoning. 



Two varieties of this plant are cultivated, namely, the Narrow- 

 leaved, which has small gray leaves and 

 is very aromatic ; and the Broad-leaved 

 Winter, or German, Thyme, a somewhat 

 taller and stronger plant, with larger 

 leaves, a little more bitter than the 

 other variety. The seed also of the 

 Broad-leaved kind is one-third larger. 



Besides these, the Lemon Thyme 

 {TJiy7nus citriodorus, Pers.), a small 

 under-shrub with trailing branches, the 

 native country of which is unknown, 

 is sometimes cultivated. Its flavour is 

 very delicate and agreeable. Some- 

 times, also, especially in country places, 

 the Wild Thyme, or Mother-of-Thyme 

 {Thymus Serpyllum, L.), is used for seasoning. This is a native 

 perennial plant, with a very slender creeping stem, bearing small 

 oval-rounded leaves and erect terminal clusters of pink or 

 violet-coloured flowers. 



Common Thyme (|- natural size 

 detached sprig, \ natural size). 



TOMATO, or LOVE-APPLE 



Lycopersicum escukntum, Mill. ; Solanum Lycopersicum, L. 



Solanacece. 



French, Tomate. German, Tomate. Flemish and Dutch, Tomaat. Italian, Pomodoro. 

 Spanish and Portuguese, Tomate. 



Native of South America. — Annual. — The Tomato is a branch- 

 ing plant with a flexible stem, requiring artificial support to enable 

 it to grow erect. The stem is thick, often woody, swollen, especially 

 at the joints, and covered with a green skin which is rough to the 

 touch. The leaves are pinnate, with oval-acuminate leaflets, which 

 are slightly toothed on the margin, grayish on the under-surface, 

 and often spoon-shaped or even with the edges rolled upwards. 

 Flowers yellowish, in axillary corymbs ; fruit large fleshy berries, 

 variable in shape and colour ; seed white, kidney-shaped, very 

 much flattened, and shagreened or rough on both sides. Its 

 germinating power lasts for four years. 



Culture. — It is only in the south of Europe that the Tomato 

 can be perfectly grown without the aid of artificial heat. In the 

 climate of Paris, the seed, for an ordinary or main crop, is generally 

 sown in a hot-bed, about the latter end of March. The seedlings 

 are pricked out into another hot-bed three weeks or a month after- 

 wards, and are finally planted out about the end of May, from 



