Tennessee State Fruit

Tomato

(Genus Lycopersicon)

Adopted in 2003

Waving red fans shaped like a tomato and emblazoned with the words ''Tomato Fan,'' the members of the state House passed and sent to the Senate the legislation proclaiming the tomato Tennessee's official state fruit.

The tomato, Lycopersicon lycopersicum, was designated as Tennessee's official state fruit by Chapter 154 of the Public Acts of 2003.

There was the expected horseplay while sponsoring Rep. Dennis Roach, R-Rutledge, tried to be serious by telling his colleagues that tomatoes are Tennessee's No. 1 fruit crop.

Rep. Rob Briley, D-Nashville, read from a list of tomato a varieties and asked Roach if each variety was the state fruit. Roach assured him that was the case.

Lycopersicon is the botanical name for the Tomato plant. The fruits of these plants are international favorites and there are more varieties sold of it than of any other vegetable. They may be eaten cooked or raw and are a good source of vitamins. The Tomato loves sunshine and is grown as a warm-weather annual, although it is actually a tender perennial. It is grown in greenhouses where summers are too cool for pollination and fruit to set in gardens. The garden varieties of Tomato come from two wild types; L. esculentum and L. pimpinellifolium are originally from western South America. The Tomato was introduced into European gardens in the early part of the sixteenth century, though it wasn't accepted as being edible; this may be possibly because it belongs to the Nightshade family (such as the White Potato, Eggplant, Pepper and other members of the Potato family, Solanaceae) and resembles many plants that were known to be poisonous; it was grown as an interesting ornamental plant. Tomatoes were grown in 1781 by Thomas Jefferson in Virginia, but weren't really known in America as an edible food until after 1834 and it was some years later that they even became popular.

Taxonomic Hierarchy
Kingdom	Plantae -- Plants
Division	Magnoliophyta
Class	Magnoliopsida
Order	Solanales
Family	Solanaceae (nightshade family)
Genus	Lycopersicon
Species	Lycopersicon lycopersicum

State Fruits

Fruits, Berries, and Nuts

Fruit is a necessary part of any nutritious diet. Fruits are an excellent source of vitamin C and fiber, they contain no cholesterol, and they are low in fat

fruit (frt)
n. pl. fruit or fruits

1.
a. The ripened ovary or ovaries of a seed-bearing plant, together with accessory parts, containing the seeds and occurring in a wide variety of forms.
b. An edible, usually sweet and fleshy form of such a structure.
c. A part or an amount of such a plant product, served as food: fruit for dessert.
2. The fertile, often spore-bearing structure of a plant that does not bear seeds.
3. A plant crop or product: the fruits of the earth.

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