Tomato

Tomato - Solanum lycopersicum

Alternative names
Solanum esculentum
Description

Medium to tall, bushy, hairy plant. Aromatic, especially when crushed. Leaves pinnate, with a mixture of alternating small and large oval to lanceolate leaflets. Flowers yellow, 15 to 25 mm, starry with reflexed, pointed petal lobes, the lobes usually 5 or 6 in number. Fruit is the familiar red tomato.

Identification difficulty
Habitat

Waste places, disturbed ground, particularly frequent on sludge drying beds of sewage works.

When to see it

Flowers June to September.

Life History

Annual.

UK Status

Occasional but widespread casual in England and Wales.

VC55 Status

Occasional casual in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 31 of the 617 tetrads.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2025+ | 2020-2024 | pre-2020

UK Map

Additional images

All NatureSpot records