Cherokee Purple Tomato (Lycopersicon lycopersicum)

Cherokee Purple Tomato (Lycopersicon lycopersicum): heirloom tomato from the Cherokee Indians reintroduced by the famous Craig LeHoullier, according to NPR One day in 1990, a packet of tomato seeds arrived in LeHoullier's mail with a handwritten note. The sender was John Green of Sevierville, Tenn., who wrote that the seeds came from very good tomatoes he'd gotten from a woman who received them from her neighbors. The neighbors said that the varietal had been in their family for 100 years, and that the seeds were originally received from Cherokee Indians.

The fruits are colored dark red, almost purple, it is really sweet, of extraordinary taste. The plant is rustic and produces fruits in around 80 days. It tolerates high temperatures well, full sun expoure, and water stress.