I usually see a few every year. Varieties where they occur seem
to be random.
Most of the documents on the WWW discussing tricots are
effectively horticultural rocket science (without a relevant
education in the field, one starts to get lost in the terminology
about the second paragraph).
I have seen a diagram of what happens inside the nucleus
of cells of tomato plants with 3 sets of chromosomes instead
of two (completely triploid plants). It is a genetic mess, and
those plants are usually infertile.
Tricots are not all triploids, though. The two cotyledons of a
normal dicotyledon plant are part of seed development
before the seed is ever planted, and mutations that only
affect that stage of seed formation without affecting the
subsequent development of the whole plant after the seed
sprouts seem to be fairly common.
There is a theory that producing tricot seeds is an innate ability
of some kinds of plant that is switched on chemically in
particular, apparently rare environmental conditions.
Can you imagine the theories of farmers 2000 years ago when
the occasional tricot seedling emerged in the spring (not
necessarily a tomato plant)? "Is it a blessing or a curse? Or
perhaps it is simply an omen? Should we plant more seeds
this year?"
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