Considered a vegetable, particularly for culinary purposes, the tomato is botanically a fruit produced by the plant Solanum lycopersicum of the nightshade family.
The word "tomato" comes from the ancient Nahuatl word tomatl.
In the US, the US Supreme Court ruled in the 1893 case Nix v. Hedden that the tomato is legally classified as a vegetable. This was to resolve an issue with the Tariff Act of 1883 which required a tax be paid on imported vegetables, but not fruits.
