<P> Tomato vines are typically pubescent, meaning covered with fine short hairs . These hairs facilitate the vining process, turning into roots wherever the plant is in contact with the ground and moisture, especially if the vine's connection to its original root has been damaged or severed . </P> <P> Most tomato plants have compound leaves, and are called regular leaf (RL) plants, but some cultivars have simple leaves known as potato leaf (PL) style because of their resemblance to that particular relative . Of RL plants, there are variations, such as rugose leaves, which are deeply grooved, and variegated, angora leaves, which have additional colors where a genetic mutation causes chlorophyll to be excluded from some portions of the leaves . </P> <P> The leaves are 10--25 cm (4--10 in) long, odd pinnate, with five to 9 leaflets on petioles, each leaflet up to 8 cm (3 in) long, with a serrated margin; both the stem and leaves are densely glandular - hairy . </P> <P> Their flowers, appearing on the apical meristem, have the anthers fused along the edges, forming a column surrounding the pistil's style . Flowers in domestic cultivars can be self - fertilizing . The flowers are 1--2 cm (0.4--0.8 in) across, yellow, with five pointed lobes on the corolla; they are borne in a cyme of three to 12 together . </P>

What had the biggest effect on the tomato eating habits in the united states