Lycopersicum
(from lykos, a wolf, and persicon, a peach; in allusion to the fleshy fruit, and its inferiority compared with the peach). Love Apple; Tomato. ORD. Solanaceae. A genus of three of three or four species of herbaceous, unarmed, procumbent plants, inhabiting South America, distinguished chiefly from the allied genus Solanum by the stamens having their anthers connected together by a thin membrane, which is prolonged upwards. Peduncles solitary, extra-axillary, many-flowered; corollas rotate, with a very short tube. Fruit fleshy, usually red or yellow, divided into two, three, or many cells, containing numerous seeds imbedded in the pulp. Leaves imparipinnate. For culture, varieties, &c., of L. esculentum, see Tomato. L. esculentum (edible). fl. green, numerous, several joined in one. Summer. l. unequally pinnate; leaflets cut, attenuated at the apex, glaucescent beneath. h. 2ft. to 3ft. South America, 1596. Plant pilose.