452 



SOLANACE^. 



/ 



FRUCTUS CAPSICI, 



Pod Pepper, Red Pepper, Gwinea Pepper, Gh lilies, Cajmcum; F. 



Piment 0}i Corail des Jardins, Poivre d'Inde on de Giiinee ; G. 

 Spanischer Pfeffer. 



Botanical Origin — The plants, the fruits of which are known as 

 Pod Pepper, have for a long period been cultivated in tropical countries, 

 and are now found in such numerous varieties that an exact determina- 

 tion of the original species is a point of great difficulty. Of several 

 species having pungent fruits, the two following are those which supply 

 the spice found in British connnerce: — 



1. ^ Capsicum fastigiatum Blume,^ a small ramous shrub, with 4-sicleil, 

 fastigiate, diverging branches; fruit-bearing peduncles sub-geminate, 

 slender, erect; fruit very small, subcylindrical, oblong, straight, with 

 calyx obconical and truncate. It occurs apparently wild in Southera 

 India, and is extensively cultivated in Tropical Africa and America. * 



Roxburgh, who describes this plant under the name C. minmum, 

 terms it East Indian B ird Ch illy or Cay en n e Pepper Gapsicxi m. 

 says that it is consumed by the natives of India, but that it is not the 

 sort preferred. It is this species that the authors of the British Phar- 

 macopceia have cited as the source of the Fructus Capsici to be used in 

 medicine, and it certainly furnishes the greater part of the Pod Pepper 

 now found in the London market. 



2. C. anniium L., an herbaceous (sometimes shrubby?) plant, with 

 truit extremely variable in size, form, and colour, in some varieties erect, 

 in others pendulous. According to Naudin, in whose opinion we concur, 

 t'-longum DC.2 and C. grossum Willd. are not specifically distinct from 

 tins plant. It furnishes the larger kinds of Pod Pepper and, as we 

 believe, much of the Cayenne Pepper which is imported in the state of 



Wight 



History— All species of Capsicum appear to be of American origin; 

 no ancient Sanskrit or Chinese name for the genus is known, and the 



doubtful'^ ""^"'^'^ ^^'""^ ^^^^"^ ^"^""'^ referred to it are extremely 



The earliest reference to the fruit as a condiment that we have met 

 with, occurs in a letter written in 1494 to the Chapter of Seville by 

 ^nanca, physician to the fleet of Columbus in his second voyage to the 

 west indies. The wHtM- in >.r>+;«; — +-u i„„^;^^„ ^-P Wi«m,mola, 



rei^tl"!"'; .?'' '^"^^'" "^ ^^^^^^^"g ^^e product 

 einark^ that the natives live on a root called A.je, which they , ^ 

 with a «nir.^ +1..,, 4.„-.„. . . , . _ . _ ^ ^ - , rj^ij^g first 



wi v^uiuijiDus in nis secoiiu vujfig'- "" - 



noticing the productions of Hispanio 



wi-fl. o • xf -^'^ "vc on a root called Aae, which thev season 



with a spice they term Agi, also eaten with fish and meat.^ .-^ , 



Pennot ^'^'^^t^.'^'S^^^^^ Vam, the second is the designation of Red 

 I epper, and still tlie common name for it in Spanish. Capsicum and 



- Thechief (listiuctionbetvveen C. «"""'"" 

 and C. loivjum is that the former has J 

 erect, the hitter a peivhtloim fruit. ... 



« Dunal in De Caiui. Prodrom't.% xin. • 



412. 



* 'Letters of ChriMopher <^'^'"»'^"-'' ^ffiS 

 lated by Major (Hakhiyt Society), !«'"• "^• 



the Specie, p/? '/ '^^ <^^P-'^>-nrnfrutescrn.. of 

 l-'Cens i« Usui y applied *'" "'"" ^^ ^'■"- 



