Tomato flower - Solanum lycopersicum

Common Name :	Tomato.
Botanical Name :	Solanum lycopersicum
Family :	Solanaceae
Bangla Name :	Tomato (টমেটো).
Photo Taken :	Bangladesh

Tomato is a very popular fruit that can be found in many foods (we even don't know those contains tomato). Most of the world's popular fast food contains some form of tomato directly or indirectly. For example, apart from Salad it can be in Ketchup, Sauce, Puree, etc. How many of us have seen the flower of tomato?

Origin of the Tomato is South america. It spread by the Spaniards when they have conquered America during 15th century. Now a days it grows everywhere in the world commercially. We have plenty of variety of tomato. Botanical name of Tomato is Solanum lycopersicum. It belongs to the plant family Solanaceae. In Bangladesh we call this as Tomato.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plant is an annual herb plant that grows as a vine (or erect bush). Plant is hairy (both stem and leaf) and has a very nice smell. Leafs are pinnate those have toothed leaflets (I am not sure what this shape of leaf is called).

Green tomato. It becomes red when ripen.

Tomato flower (Solanum lycopersicum) is yellow in color. It has six lobbed petals those forms a star. Flower has yellow filaments those protrude outwards and covers the style of the flower. Flowers bloom as a cluster. Fruits are berry type and contains plenty of seeds. Inside the fruit is juicy.

Green tomato around the vine.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) can be eaten as raw, cooked, or processed. There are lot of dishes available those are made from tomato. Also a lot of dishes available which uses another form of tomato (i.e. sauce, puree, etc). Tomato is a great source of vitamin were the vitamin C is predominant.

Green tomato around the vine.

In Bangladesh we use to grow this plant commercially. It is mainly a winter crop here. But people are growing this throughout the year.

Photos of Tomato flower (Solanum lycopersicum) were taken from the following places of Bangladesh:
1) February 2015: Rupganj, Narayanganj.
2) January 2016: Jamalpur.


This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog http://icflora.blogspot.com/