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109 



through the kindness of Professor Orville A. Derby, of Rio 

 Janeiro, a number of plants which I think are to be referred to 

 Capsicum umbilicatum, Vellozo. As this pepper seems never 

 to have been described from specimens, and as our plants differ 

 somewhat from the description by Dunal, the following com- 

 munication may be of service : 



Capsicum umbilicatum, Veil, Fl. flum., ii., t 7. Dunal in 



DC, Prod., xiii., 428. Vernacular name, *' Pimentao fundo de 

 garraba. Bottle-bottomed.'' Shrub about 2 feet tall or more, 

 erect, branches deep green, distinctly four- angled, minutely 

 pubescent on younger growth, especially about nodes. Leaves 

 deep green above, paler below, ovate, shortly acuminate, much 

 rounded at base, extending slightly into petiole often unequally, 

 much puffed, largest ones 5 in. long by 3^ in. broad, but usually 

 about 2 in. long by I 7/^ in. broad, sparingly pubescent, on margins 

 minutely ciliate, solitary below, in twos and threes above. Petioles 



rather short, in general ^-^ in. long, ciliate. Peduncles sohtary 



or rarely geminate, subangular, pendant, evenly enlarging towards 

 calyx end, in young specimens sub-hairy. Corolla about S/i in. 

 diameter, greenish. Calyx lobes very flat, lacerated, border thin 

 and membranaceous, five to six-toothed, the teeth acute, ten- 

 nerved, the five shorter nerves being somewhat obscure. Berry 

 seated on the calyx, about l}i in. long by ^ in. diameter, 

 turbinate, broad at the apex, scolloped, with a usually projecting 

 nipple or boss from the center, at first green, then brown on side 

 next the sun, finally red, cells 3-5, usually 4, acrid. 



The plant set out with other peppers in the spring, ripened 

 its fruit before frost, and was reasonably prolific. The puffed 

 surface of the leaf gave it a quite distinct aspect. In some of the 

 fruits the boss was depressed within the scolloped border; in 

 most, however, it was projecting. Whether this is a distinct 

 species I do not care yet to decide, as I have three other varie- 

 ties of a common aspect, but cliffering in the fruit At any rate 

 It is an extremely well marked variety. 



E. Lewis Sturtevant. 

 So. Framingham, Mass., Feb. 2, 1888. 



