LYCOPERSICUM, the tomato or love-apple, the produce of South America, a genus of the same family as potatoes, a delicious vegetable, cultivated iu many gardens. There are two sorts, single and double ; may be sown immediately the rains commence, in beds; afterwards transplanted in rows, two feet apart, and trailed upon sticks of a strong description. If the soil is good, they will grow to seven or eight feet in height. The double, which are the finest, if sown in June ripen in October. The lower branches should be pruned, and a succession of crops may be kept up until April. The small single tomato, with a slight protection from the dry winds, will continue until the rains.
Lycopersicum esculentum, Mill.
Solanum lycopersicum, L. I Pomum amoris, Blackly. Wal-mang,i, . . BOMBAY. I Thah kali, . . . HIND.? Khayanmyaphung, Bum. Thak kali, . . . ,, Fan•kia, . . . . CHIN. 1 Tamati, . . . MarAv. Love-apple, Tomato, ENG. Maha rata tamati, SINGH.
Wolf peach, . . „ Simi takali pallam, TAM.
This fruit is a valuable ingredient in soups and stews, also as a preserve and for sauces, chatnies, garnishing, soups, etc. It produces the best fruit when trained on a trellis ; more a luxury than valuable as a vegetable. The large-lobed red and very succulent berries contain much malic acid. The plant is a native of South America, but it is much cultivated in England, in Southern Asia, United States of North America, and in France, Germany, and Italy. Near Rome and Naples, whole fields are covered with it, and scarcely a dish is served up into which it does not enter as an ingredient. There are several varieties cultivated ; the best are called the large and small cherry and pear shaped red, and the large and small or cherry-shaped yellow.—Roxb. i. p. 570; Jaffrey's Hints; Riddell's Gardening.