Initially they were grown in Europe as ornamental plants because the fruit was considered poisonous as the tomato belongs to the plant family Solonaceae and included in this family is the Deadly Nightshade. In fact the tomato was named Mala Insana or the unwholesome fruit by Europeans. It was also called the Love Apple . We should thank the Italians for first embracing the tomato and introducing it into their culture. The genus Lycopersicon - some botanical characteristics ' The home gardener is part scientist, part artist, part philosopher, part plowman.
Tomatoes are warm-season perennials grown as annuals.
They are frost sensitive and many cultivars require about 3 to 4 months from seeding to produce mature fruit. The base can become woody. Yellow flowers are borne in terminal inflorescences appearing extra-axillary or lateral. The fruit is a mucilaginous berry. Its habit is erect to scrambling rooting at the nodes, and it can reach 2 m in height.