Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.
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January 20, 2009 | #1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2006
Location: swPA
Posts: 629
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The original tomato
Here's one for the experts. A guy a work says that the original tomaotoes were of the "black" variety. Is this true and are there any websites to confirm (or deny) this?
CECIL
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Hybrids Rule, Heirlooms Drool! |
January 20, 2009 | #2 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Alabama
Posts: 2,250
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nope. with a couple of caveats.
The genetics tell that tale pretty effectively. The original tomatoes were green. Yellow and red are much later additions to the dna. There is a chart around on the internet showing the biochemical pathway for development of carotenoids. The sequence is pretty simple right up to a split between beta carotene and lycopene. Black tomatoes have a gene that modifies the fruit to retain chlorophyll. In that sense, the black tomato is more like the original than carotenoid versions. If you want a good idea what the original tomatoes looked like, grow Maxifort rootstock or just about any of the green when ripe cherries. DarJones |
January 20, 2009 | #3 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Mid-Ohio
Posts: 847
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Are you talking wild type for the edible species (I thought they were all red) or for the group of tomato species (the shared ancestor was green)?
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January 20, 2009 | #4 | |
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a
Posts: 21,169
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Quote:
The only edible ones are: S. lycopersicon ( or some use esculentum as the species name S.pimpinellifolium, the currant tomatoes S. cheesmanii, which few folks grow Several years ago I was sent seeds for what was called Botanique Originale. I got huge plants with the most beautiful yellow blossoms that never set fruits. At the time Craig and I were publishing OTV, the newsletter about heurloom tomatoes, and Craig had recebntkly interviewed Dr. Rock, who did all the work on the various orogonal species found in the higlnads of Chile and Peru, so I called him about this. It was only then that I discovered that many of the species are self infertile and thus began my interest in the various species and what they're used for in breeding, etc. Of late I've been interacting with Dr Esther Van der Knaap who has been looking into the evolution of tomato shapes and more. There was an article and cover picture about her work in a Scientific American that appeared either last year or the year before. We still don't know for sure which of the original species went from S America to Mexico, or how, or when the first red fruited cherry tomato appeared as it did in Mexico.
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