wild galapagos tomato

The Galapagos tomato in action!

When most people think of the Galapagos Islands, they understandably envision its remarkable and iconic animal life; massive lumbering tortoises, prehistoric looking marine iguanas, comical blue-footed boobies, and the like.

But the plant life of the Galapagos is no less intriguing and obviously a critically important element in the unique ecosystems of the islands.

Two particularly interesting endemic plants species are the wild Galapagos tomatoes (Solanum cheesmaniae and S. galapagense). They bear tiny orange and yellow fruit can be found growing in some truly inhospitable places, including sunbaked lava fields and along salty shorelines. Their exceptional hardiness has made them a valuable plant for tomato breeders, who use them to enhance salt and drought tolerance in cultivated species.

They are also popular with land birds and giant tortoises, which help propagate the species by dispersing and fertilizing their seeds. In fact, researchers has shown that the seeds germinate much more effectively if they’ve passed through a tortoise’s gut.

Like many other species endemic to the Galapagos, the tomato faces an uncertain future due to the proliferation of invasive species. The harmful invaders in this case are cultivated tomato varieties that have escaped the garden and can now be found growing along roadways and other areas on the island of Santa Cruz. Wild tomatoes are hybridizing with their domesticated cousins, which dilutes their genetic integrity and results in the proliferation of new, intermediate tomato varieties.

The Galapagos tomato has found a high profile champion in Sarah Darwin, who is great granddaughter of Charles Darwin. A botanist and illustrator at the Natural History Museum in London, Sarah wrote her PhD thesis on the Galapagos tomato and has been a vocal advocate for its preservation as a distinct species.

Interestingly, Charles Darwin claimed that the tomatoes tasted disgusting, though one purveyor of Galapagos tomato seeds describes them as “intensely sweet, salty and complex.” If you want to see for yourself you can order the seeds from Trade Winds Fruit and grow them in your garden.