Purple Smudge

• General Info
• Seed Availability

Purple Smudge
Maturity	midseason
Growth habit	indet.
Leaf type	regular
Fruit color	red
Fruit shape	oblate
Fruit size	small
Fruit type
Variety type
Country

B.C KO T

indet., regular leaf, 2-4 oz round globes, light pink skin with purple 'smudge' on the shoulders, good sweet flavor, very productive. Fruits are very juicy and seedy, with 2 large seed cavilities.

Seed source:

Mireille Blais, QC, Canada 07 / CV Salt Spring Seeds

Year grown: 2008

Location: Zone 7b, PNW, Anmore, BC, Canada (760 ft above sea level)

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History

• From USDA. PI 290858. Donated to USDA in 1962 from United States.
• The USDA description says: "Carries a new purple smudge character (without simple Mendelian inheritance). Tops of green fruit become purple to black when exposed to sunshine. Low nitrogen fertilizer helps expression of character. "
• It has been listed in SSE Yearbooks since at least 1987.
• Here is the quote from the originator of Purple Smudge, provided by Darrel Jones of Alabama in one of the posts at Tomato forum Garden Web in February 2009 ([1]):

"Its parent was received from W. S. Porte of the U.S. Department of Agriculture as No. 48-B-380. It came from his cross of Stokesdale X (Rutgers X Pan America) as female parent X (Michigan State Forcing X L. peruvianum) X San Marzano as male parent from Dr. V. M. Watts of the University of Arkansas. Gl393 selection had very large prolific vines with bright red fruits 2 to 2-1/2 inches in diameter. The tops of some of the large green fruits were marked with purple-black smudges, which character probably was inherited from the L. peruvianum ancestor. Black smudge is a new character for fruited tomatoes. Some of the plants showed purple epidermis on the upper parts of the stems. The red fruits had bright green jelly around the seeds. Preliminary crosses did not indicate clearly the nature of the inheritance of the greenjelly character."

• Purple tops on green tomato fruits. Young, P.A. [2] Purple stripes are common on the ripening fruits of Lycopersicon peruvianum. It as interesting to notice large prominent purple to black areas or smudges on the stem ends of many of the green fruits of hybrid tomatoes in which L. peruvianum was one ancestor. This character was most prominent in Gl367C in November 1953. This is the F3 of Stokesdale X G1219. The G1219 has the same ancestry as G1393 described for the green-jelly character (T.G.C. 2: 12, 1952). The green fruits of G1367C, 1 to 2 inches in diameter, showed prominent purpling of the epidermis on about 1/3 of the upper part of the fruit near the stem end. The epidermis was green under the calyx, and only the fruits that had been exposed to much sunshine showed the prominent purpling. The purpling became conspicuous only after the weather became cool to cold in the field of fall tomatoes. Perhaps purpling was associated with decreased growth.

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Related

• Purple Smudge, Orange Fleshed (orange-fleshed sport of the red-fleshed Purple Smudge)

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Picture Gallery

• 

  Purple Smudge lineage from Young's research notes in several issues of The Reports of the Tomato Genetics Committee.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Purple Smudge. 2008-05-25.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Purple Smudge. 2008-06-25.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Purple Smudge - Leaf. 2008-07-18.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Purple Smudge - flowers. 2008-06-25.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Purple Smudge - flowers. 2008-07-28.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Purple Smudge - flowers. 2008-07-28.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Purple Smudge - baby fruit. 2008-07-18.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Purple Smudge - green fruit. 2008-07-28.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Purple Smudge - ripe fruit. 2008-09-28.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Purple Smudge - ripe fruit. 2008-09-28.

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  Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Purple Smudge - ripe fruit. 2008-10-12.

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  Ken Cook, NH. Purple Smudge. Uploaded with owner's permission.

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  Ken Cook, NH. Purple Smudge. Uploaded with owner's permission.

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  Olena Tsygankova, Alberta. Purple Smudge - ripe fruit. 2012-09-07.

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Seed Availability

Year	Commercial Vendors	Seed Savers Yearbook (Member listings)	Seeds of Diversity (Member listings)
2018		.	.
2017		.	.
2016		.	.
2015		.	.
2014		.	.
2013	Sand Hill Preservation Center	.	.
2012	Tatiana's TOMATObase Seeds - sold out for 2012	.	.
2011	Tatiana's TOMATObase Seeds Sand Hill Preservation Center	5	1
2010	Tatiana's TOMATObase Seeds Sand Hill Preservation Center	7	0
2009	Tatiana's TOMATObase Seeds Sand Hill Preservation Center	7	.
2008	Sand Hill Preservation Center	7	.
2007	Sand Hill Preservation Center	9	.

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