What did 16th-century tomatoes look like?

Abstract

Soon after the Spanish conquest of the Americas, the first tomatoes were presented as curiosities to the European elite and drew the attention of 16th-century Italian naturalists. Despite their scientific interest in this New World crop, most Renaissance botanists did not specify where these „golden apples” or „pomi d’oro” came from. It is likely that tomatoes were brought to Europe after the Spanish sieged the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City) in 1521 and after they conquered the Peruvian Inca emperors in 1531. Tomatoes and other New World domesticates must have been brought to the Spanish court, and were probably planted in the royal gardensin Madrid, after which they were likely shipped from Sevilla to Italy, but no written evidence have been found so far for these events. The debate on the first European tomatoes and their origin is often hindered by erroneous dating, botanical misidentifications and inaccessible historical sources. So, who saw the first 16th-century tomatoes that entered Europe? What did they look like? Who made the first botanical description, collection and/or illustration? And where did these tomatoes come from?