Lycopersicon


Lycopersicon was a genus in the flowering plant family Solanaceae. It contained about 13 species in the tomato group of nightshades. First removed from the genus Solanum by Philip Miller in 1754, its removal leaves the latter genus paraphyletic, so modern botanists generally accept the names in Solanum. The name Lycopersicon is a reference to German folklore about members of the nightshade family being used to summon werewolves, and 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 analysis of DNA sequence data confirms Lycopersicon as a clade that is part of a lineage of nightshades also including the potato. If it is desired to continue use of Lycopersicon, it can be held as a section inside the potato-tomato subgenus whose name has to be determined in accordance with the ICBN.

Selected species

Former specific names are cited if they have significantly changed when moving to Solanum, are:
Arcanum group
  • Solanum arcanum Peralta
  • Solanum chmielewskii D.M.Spooner, G.J.Anderson & R.K.Jansen
  • Solanum neorickii D.M.Spooner, G.J.Anderson & R.K.Jansen
Lycopersicon group
  • Solanum cheesmaniae Fosberg
  • Solanum galapagense S.C.Darwin & Peralta C.H.Mull., L. cheesmaniae var. minor
  • Solanum lycopersicum L. - Tomato, cherry tomato etc.
  • Solanum pimpinellifolium L. - Currant tomato Brezhnev in Zhukovskii, L. esculentum var. racemigerum
Eriopersicon group
  • Solanum chilense Reiche
  • Solanum corneliomulleri J.F.Macbr.
  • Solanum habrochaites S.Knapp & D.M.Spooner
  • Solanum huaylasense Peralta
  • Solanum peruvianum L. - Peruvian nightshade
Neolycopersicon group
  • Solanum pennellii 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 poisonous:
  • Physalis angulata
  • Solanum carolinense
  • Solanum quadriloculatum
  • Solanum wallacei
and others.