344 



On the Love Apple. 



Icones* of Lobel, in 1581, in conformity with Anguillaras 

 conjecture, it is called the Lycopersicum. In the first edition, 

 of Gerarde's HerballX the term Lycopertium is used, erro- 

 neously, as I apprehend ; for the editor of the second edi- 

 tion! substitutes the correct spelling without any comment. 

 Tournefort, in his EUmens de Botanique, in 1694, adopted 

 Lycopersicum as the name of a genus, in which he placed the 

 particular plant now treated of. 



Miller, in the sixth edition of his Gardeners Dictionary, 

 published in 1752, after describing this and some other simi- 

 lar plants of the same genus, says, " the Italians and Spa- 

 niards eat these apples as we do Cucumbers, with pepper, 

 oil, anJ salt, and some eat them in sauces, &c. and in soups 

 they are now much used in England, especially this sort, 

 which is preferred to all the other. This fruit gives an agree- 

 able acid to the soups, though there are some persons who 

 think them not wholesome, from their great moisture and 

 coldness." This account is retained in the last (the eighth) 

 edition of the Dictionary, which Miller published in 1768, 

 where he calls the plant Lycopersicum escidentum. 



By the Spaniards and Portuguese the plants are called 

 Tomates (not Tomatas, as stated by Miller), and thence 

 nas come our name Tomatos. The Italians formerly called 

 them Pomi a" oro, and Pomi del Peru, their modern name in 

 Italy is Porno a" amore. T ornate seems to be the original 

 Peruvian appellation ; the old European botanists wrote it 

 Tumatle. Tomatle (plural Tomatles) is the name given in 

 Mexico to this and to several plants of the genus Solanum. 



* LobeFs Icones, page 270. f Ger. Herb. 1st. edit, page 275. 



% Johnson's Ger. Herb, page 346. 



