''Lycopersicon'' was a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

in the

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Solanaceae Solanaceae (), commonly known as the nightshades, is a family of flowering plants in the order Solanales. It contains approximately 2,700 species, several of which are used as agricultural crops, medicinal plants, and ornamental plants. Many me ...

(the

nightshade Solanaceae (), commonly known as the nightshades, is a family of flowering plants in the order Solanales. It contains approximately 2,700 species, several of which are used as agricultural crops, medicinal plants, and ornamental plants. Many me ...

s and relatives). It contained about 13

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

in the

tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

group of nightshades. First removed from the genus ''

Solanum ''Solanum'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, which include three food crops of high economic importance: the potato, the tomato and the eggplant (aubergine, brinjal). It is the largest genus in the nightshade family Solana ...

'' by

Philip Miller Philip Miller Royal Society, FRS (1691 – 18 December 1771) was an English botany, botanist and gardener of Scottish descent. Miller was chief gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden for nearly 50 years from 1722, and wrote the highly popular ...

in 1754, its removal leaves the latter genus

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

, so modern botanists generally accept the names in ''Solanum''. The name ''Lycopersicon'' (from

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

''λυκοπέρσικον'' meaning "wolf peach") is still used by gardeners, farmers, and seed companies. Collectively, the species in this group apart from the common cultivated plant are called wild tomatoes.

Cladistic Cladistics ( ; from Ancient Greek 'branch') is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is ...

analysis of

DNA sequence A nucleic acid sequence is a succession of bases within the nucleotides forming alleles within a DNA (using GACT) or RNA (GACU) molecule. This succession is denoted by a series of a set of five different letters that indicate the order of the nu ...

data confirms ''Lycopersicon'' as a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

that is part of a lineage of nightshades also including the

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

(''S. tuberosum''). If it is desired to continue use of ''Lycopersicon'', it can be held as a section inside the potato-tomato

subgenus In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

whose name has to be determined in accordance with the

ICBN The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN or ICNafp) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all tho ...

.Solanaceae Source

008 008, OO8, O08, or 0O8 may refer to: * "008", a fictional 00 Agent In Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and the derived films, the 00 Section of MI6 is considered the secret service's elite. A 00 (pronounced "Double O") is a field agent who ho ...

br>Phylogeny
Retrieved 2008-OCT-01.

Selected species

Former specific names are cited if they have significantly changed when moving to ''Solanum'', are: Arcanum group * '' Solanum arcanum'' Peralta (= ''Lycopersicon peruvianum'' var. ''humifusum'' C.H.Mull.) * '' Solanum chmielewskii'' (C.M.Rick, Kesicki, Fobes & M.Holle) D.M.Spooner, G.J.Anderson & R.K.Jansen * '' Solanum neorickii'' D.M.Spooner, G.J.Anderson & R.K.Jansen (= ''Lycopersicon parviflorum'' C.M.Rick, Kesicki, Fobes & M.Holle) Lycopersicon group * '' Solanum cheesmaniae'' (L.Riley) Fosberg (= ''Lycopersicon peruvianum'' var. ''parviflorum'' Hook.f.) * '' Solanum galapagense'' S.C.Darwin & Peralta (= ''Lycopersicon cheesmaniae'' f. ''minor'' (Hook.f.) C.H.Mull., ''L. cheesmaniae'' var. ''minor'' (Hook.f.) D.M.Porter, ''L. esculentum'' var. ''minor'' Hook.f.) * '' Solanum lycopersicum'' L. –

Tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

cherry tomato The cherry tomato is a type of small round tomato believed to be an intermediate genetic admixture between Solanum pimpinellifolium, wild currant-type tomatoes and domesticated garden tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes range in size from a thumbtip up ...

etc. (= ''Lycopersicon cerasiforme'', ''L. lycopersicum'' and many others) * Tomato_in_3d

* ''

Solanum pimpinellifolium ''Solanum pimpinellifolium'', commonly known as the currant tomato or pimp, is a wild species of tomato native to Ecuador and Peru but naturalized elsewhere, such as the Galápagos Islands. Its small fruits are edible, and it is commonly grown in ...

'' L. – Currant tomato (= ''Lycopersicon esculentum'' ssp. ''intermedium'' Luckwill, ''L. esculentum'' ssp. ''pimpinellifolium'' (L.) Brezhnev in Zhukovskii, ''L. esculentum'' var. ''racemigerum'' (Lange) Brezhnev in Zhukovskii, ''L. pissisi'' Phil., ''L. racemiforme'' Lange, ''L. racemigerum'' Lange) Tomato flower and young fruit

Eriopersicon group * '' Solanum chilense'' (Dunal) Reiche (= ''Lycopersicon atacamense'' Phil., ''L. bipinnatifidum'' Phil., ''L. peruvianum'' ssp. ''puberulum'' (Phil.) Luckwill, ''L. puberulum'' Phil.) * '' Solanum corneliomulleri'' J.F.Macbr. (= ''Lycopersicon glandulosum'' C.H.Mull.) * '' Solanum habrochaites'' S.Knapp & D.M.Spooner (= ''Lycopersicon agrimoniifolium'' Dunal in DC., ''L. hirsutum'' Dunal) * '' Solanum huaylasense'' Peralta * '' Solanum peruvianum'' L. – Peruvian nightshade (= ''Lycopersicon commutatum'' (Spreng.) Roem. & Schult., ''L. dentatum'' Dunal, ''L. regulare'' Dunal) Neolycopersicon group * ''

Solanum pennellii ''Solanum pennellii'' (syn. ''Lycopersicon pennellii'') is a species of wild tomato in the family Solanaceae. It is native to the Galápagos Islands, Peru, and northern Chile. It is being extensively studied for its drought resistance and other t ...

'' Correll

Other "wild tomatoes"

Colloquially, wild tomato is used for several unrelated ''Solanum'' species with tomato-like fruit or leaves. The term is inaccurate and may be dangerous, as some of these species may be fatally

poison A poison is any chemical substance that is harmful or lethal to living organisms. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figurati ...

ous: * '' Physalis angulata'' (Cut-leaved groundcherry) * '' Solanum carolinense'' (Carolina horsenettle) * '' Solanum quadriloculatum'' (a " bush tomato" of Australia) * '' Solanum wallacei'' (Wallace's nightshade) and others.

References

{{Reflist

Selected species

Other "wild tomatoes"

References

Further reading