Tomatoes

Perhaps you know that when tomatoes were discovered in the 16th century, they were considered to be deadly poisonous.

This was because in the 3rd century, a naturalist categorized a green, tomato-like fruit which he called the wolfpeach. It was sweet tasting, but poisonous enough to kill wolves.

When explorers discovered tomatoes growing in the Incan gardens, they presumed them to be the infamous 'wolfpeach', and though they brought them to the old world, they were only grown as curiosities.

The potato, when it develops above ground, becomes what is known as a 'potato apple'; similar to a green tomato. The potato apple, unlike the potato, concentrates poisonous cyanic acid; it is probably the real 'wolfpeach'.

It is not known who discovered that tomatoes were not poisonous.