Why have I never seen tomatoes growing wild?

Question

or any of the vegetables that we normally eat. What part of the world would you see such a thing? or can you?

Answer 1

The greatest genetic diversity of a particular type of plant is found in the geographic region where that plant originated. Tomatoes can indeed be found in Peru, but I have seen many members of the Nightshade family across the Great Plains of the US. If you look for varieties of nightshade or ground cherries- you are seeing "wild tomatoes." The tomatoes we eat today are rather odd, in that most members of the family are toxic to humans (Potato plants will produce tomato-like fruit, but DO NOT eat them).
A number of things happen when wild plants are domesticated which can alter what the plants look like. Sometimes, plant varieties become so dependent upon humans to live that even if the domesticated plant is taken to a new area, it won't be able to spread away form human care- corn, for example.
There are many plant families that are found almost everywhere, but the plant from which the domesticated crop originated may not be in evidence.
Many staple vegetables common in the US are from Europe, so unless you plan to visit...

Answer 2

In Mexico theres a smallest tomato growing wild in the corn Fields the size is like a marble

Answer 3

Animals eat them up fast maybe. I have found tomatoes growing in the wild, not sure if it was just a plant from someone or if it naturally grows here. This was in Michigan .

Answer 4

I have seen wild tomatoes growing in NY. If you get compost from the sewage treatment plant it grows tomatoes without planting them. The seeds go through.

Answer 5

1) Maybe you're not in the plant's Vavilov center
and
2) tomatoes have a tendency to go rogue in the wild and revert to their wild state (small fruit)

Answer 6

HA that is so strange to think that someone has never seen vegetables grow...guess I am stuck in my small town girl world...
come to Georgia...you'll see them all over the place!

Answer 7

Maybe because the weeds prevent them from growing.

Answer 8

Maybe it's because you haven't been to the highlands of Peru, where they are found!

http://www.earlham.edu/~greenje/tomato.htm

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