Biodiversity
An introduction to biodiversity.
A simple explanation of what biodiversity is, how we make sense of it and its importance to us. Plus an introduction to the biodiversity of potatoes and tomatoes.
Solanum peruvianum
Quick description
Small and tasty wild tomato from coastal deserts.
Appearance
Small, usually not taller than 50 centimetres. Many short and dense hairs make the leaves and stems feel velvety. Plants from the north have leaf parts with deep lobes and teeth around the edges, but plants from the south have leaf parts that are have almost no lobes. Flowers are wide and bright yellow and the fused stamens curve sideways. The pointy structure on the tips of the stamens is between 3 and 4 millimetres long. Fruit is green or whitish with purple, round, between 1 and 1.5 centimetres wide and hairy. Seeds are dark brown and silky, pointed, with narrow wings.
Taste / cooking
The fruit can be eaten raw or cooked. It has a sweet tomato-like flavour. The green parts of the plant are poisonous.
Specific nutritional benefits
Unknown
Habitat / growing
Grows in deserts near the sea in Peru and Chile. Also grows in California. This is one of the first wild tomatoes to be cultivated in European botanical gardens, including the Chelsea Physic Garden, Uppsala, Berlin, Vienna and Hamburg. The famous botanist Linnaeus described it in 1753 and it is still widely grown across Europe.
Stress tolerance
Drought tolerance
Disease/pest resistance
Some populations are resistant to aphids, root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.), and early blight fungus (Alternaria solani).
