biology

Lycopersicon

Lycopersicon is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lycopersicon rather than just read about it. In short: Lycopersicon was a genus in the flowering plant family Solanaceae (the nightshades and relatives). It contained about 13 species in the tomato group of nightshades.

Key takeaways

Lycopersicon belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lycopersicon to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lycopersicon from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Lycopersicon was a genus in the flowering plant family Solanaceae (the nightshades and relatives). 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 (from Greek λυκοπέρσικον meaning "wolf peach") 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 (S. tuberosum). 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 (= 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, cherry tomato etc. (= Lycopersicon cerasiforme, L. lycopersicum and many others)

Solanum pimpinellifolium 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)

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

References

Further reading Peralta, Knapp & Spooner: (2005): New Species of Wild Tomatoes (Solanum Section Lycopersicon: Solanaceae) from Northern Peru. Systematic Botany 30(2): 424-434.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lycopersicon

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lycopersicon claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lycopersicon before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lycopersicon ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lycopersicon

In research: Lycopersicon appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lycopersicon in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lycopersicon is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Historically recognized angiosperm genera, Solanum, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lycopersicon outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lycopersicon in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lycopersicon means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lycopersicon out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lycopersicon in simple terms?

Lycopersicon was a genus in the flowering plant family Solanaceae (the nightshades and relatives). It contained about 13 species in the tomato group of nightshades.

Why does Lycopersicon matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lycopersicon?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lycopersicon.