Food Plants International - Plant Fact Sheets Lycopersicon esculentum

Edible: Fruit, Spice, Vegetable, Leaves

A short lived perennial plant. It is upright but with weak stems. It can grow to 2 m tall with support for the stems. The stems have long hairs. It is bad smelling. The leaves are deeply lobed with an odd number of leaflets. They have irregular teeth around the edge. There are up to 12 star shaped flowers on each raceme. Flowers are yellow. The fruit are round and red when ripe. Yellow coloured fruit also occur. There are many varieties.

A warm temperate plant. It grows from sea level to 2400 m altitude in the tropics. It needs to be grown in fertile soil. For best production it requires much water, plenty of sunshine and low night temperatures. For germination it does best between 20-30°C. It is frost susceptible. A pH of 6.0-7.9 is best. In Nepal it grows to 1400 m altitude. It suits hardiness zones 9-12.

Common Names: Tomato, Baingan, Bunyanya bunyoro, Domado, Domate, Esalamejei, Faan kee, Golbhera, Kamatis, Kha-ran-chine, Khayan-gyin, Kibongi, Komidira, Lumantu, Ma-khay-sut, Makheua thet, Matamba, Ma-thamba, Mutamatisi, Nyanya, Peng pahs, Ta-gaw-lay, Takkali, Tamata, Tamatar, Tamatis, Thakkali, Tomat, Tomata, Tomatar, Tomati, Tumatur, Vanji, Vilayithi vengan, Vilayithi

Synonyms: Lycopersicon lycopersicum (L.) Karsten;
Lycopersicon esculentum P. Miller;
and many others