ABSTRACT
After spending years in Mexico, Francisco Ximénez published his book Naturaleza y Virtudes de las plantas (Nature and Virtues of Plants) in 1615. In that book was an herb called coztomatl (yellow tomato, Nahuatl). The herb is Physalis but no one is sure which of the species. The characteristic enlarged and inflated calyces growing over the tomatolike berry are obvious in the Ximénez drawings. Today we know and eat fruits of a Mexican species as tomatillo in salsas. In Ximénez’s time, people in Europe were already familiar with their native P. alkekengi and some others from elsewhere.
