THE NEPAL PEPPER PLANT 



CAPSICUM 



ANNUUM 



Red Pepper 



names for the capsicums in Chinese, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Greek, 

 or Latin. No Indian botanist has ever recorded having found a species of 

 Capsieitm in a wild condition. But the rapidity with which the species and 

 races of this pepper became disseminated throughout the tropical and warm 

 temperate tracts of the globe, following closely on the discovery of the West 

 Indies and America, is one of the many examples of the marvellous powers of 

 adaptability and endurance possessed by the plant-cohorts from the New World 

 on their invading the Old. 



Varieties 

 and 



Cultivated 

 Forms. 



Nepal Chilli. 



Influence 

 of Soil. 



Cherry Pepper. 



Cayenne. 



Black Nubian. 



C. annuum, Linn. ; C. grossum, Willd., in Fl. Br. Ind., iv., 239 ; 

 Irish, I.e. 65-97, tt. 10-28. 



The following statement is derived mainly from Mr. H. C. Irish's admirable 

 review of the varieties and cultivated races of this species : 



(a) Var. abbreviation, Fingerh. : the Celestial, Etna, Kaleidoscope, Red Wrinkled 

 Princess of Wales, etc. 



(b) Var. acuminatum, Fingerh, .- the best examples are the erect-fruited Chilli 

 and the pendent-fruited Long Cayenne, Long Yellow Cayenne, Nepal Chilli and 

 the Yellow Nepal Chilli. It includes, in fact, most if not all the long, pointed, 

 pendent forms common as field crops. Recently Mr. H. M. Leake performed 

 some interesting experiments with capsicums at Dalsing Sarai. He selected 

 seed carefully and sowed them in order to watch the tendencies to variation. 

 Nearly half the erect podded stock had pendent pods. Every plant was, how- 

 ever, consistent, either having all its pods erect or all suspended. He further 

 found that chillies will grow on usar land if sown early. Very possibly most of 

 Leake's plants belonged to this variety, but as I have not seen any of his 

 specimens I cannot say for certain. 



This would appear to be the Capsicum minus flavum of Rumphius (I.e. 248). 

 Mr. Irish remarks that the seed of the Nepal Chilli had been supplied by the 

 Superintendent of Saharanpur Botanic Gardens, and on being cultivated proved 

 different from other plants seen by him. In the Report of the Safiaranpur Botanic 

 Gardens (1894-5, 10) it is stated that the Superintendent had received seed 

 direct from Col. H. Wylie, British Resident in Nepal. The plants grew freely, 

 but the pods produced possessed none of the peculiar flavour and pungency of 

 the pods imported from Nepal. The Superintendent then adds, " In the letter 

 which accompanied the seeds Col. Wylie informed me that that would prove to 

 be the case, as the variety so much in request is the product of a peculiar kind of 

 soil, only found in certain localities, and that in Nepal itself the true Nepal chilli 

 when not grown on the right soil, scarcely differs from the common long red chilli 

 of Indian bazars." 



(c) Var. cerasiforme, Miller: Roxb., Fl. Ind., i., 574. Cherry-pepper is often 

 alluded to by the early authors, such as Miller, Gerarde, Parkinson, Tournefort, 

 etc. This includes the Little Gem, Prince of Wales, Cherry, Yellow Cherry 

 Oxheart, Yellow Oxheart, etc. 



(d) Var. conoides, Miller: the best-known races are the Coral Gem, Tobasco, 

 Cayenne, Orange-Red Cluster, etc. 



(e) Var. fasciculatum, Start. .- the better known races are Red Cluster, Yellow- 

 Cluster, etc. 



(/) Var. grossum, Sendt. : Roxb., I.e. This is the kaffree-murich ; is often alluded 

 to and figured by the early European writers such as Miller, Parkinson, Fousch, 

 Gregorius, Bauhin, Morison, Rheede, etc. Under this form have to be placed 

 The Emperor, Monstrous, Sweet Spanish, Bell, Ruby King, Golden King, 

 Brazilian Upright, Squash, Yellow Squash. In India the races of this variety 

 may be said to exist mainly as garden plants, though large inflated yellow fruits 

 of this form have recently begun to appear in the markets as a regular article 

 of trade. 



(g) Var. longum, Sendt.: C. annuum and purpureum, Roxb., Fl. Ind., i., 573; 

 C. bicolor, Bot. Mag., 43, n. 1835. This is the plant most frequently described 

 by the early European authors. The best-known races are Black Nubian, Long 

 Red, Country Fair, Cardinal, Long Yellow, Elephant's Trunk, Ivory Trunk, etc. 

 Roxburgh tells us that he found a single plant of c. jmi-jxu-eii m in the Botanic 

 Gardens, Calcutta, in 1796 but could not learn whence it came, though he 

 adds, " most likely from the Malacca Islands." Irish assorts all these to- 

 gether as forms in which the calyx rarely embraces the base of the fruit. It 

 seems probable that most of the plants hitherto regarded by writers on Indian 

 garden plants as forms of c. fruteseens should be relegated to this position 



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