320 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Tomato. 



This now familiar fruit is produced, by Lycopersicum esculentum, 

 Tourn., one of ten species, natives of South America, mainly Peru. It 

 ha^s been introduced into many warm countries, arriving in Europe in 

 the close of the sixteenth century (1596). M. A. de Candolle shows, 

 from a total absence of all knowledge of the tomato in Asia, that it 

 could not have been a native of that continent ; on the other hand, all 

 positive evidence points to Peru, and the small-fruited L. cerasiforme, 

 wild on the Peruvian shore, is the most probable origin of it. 



The peculiar ribbed form of the fruit first grown in this country 

 was due to a malformation called a " multifold " flower, in which the 

 usual number of parts is much augmented. Modern cultivators now 

 grow the normal globular form. 



