PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR FRUITS. 289 



neither Romans, Greeks, nor even Hebrews were ac- 

 quainted with them. They are not mentioned in ancient 

 Chinese books. 1 The islanders of the Pacific did not 

 cultivate them at the time of Cook's voyages, 2 in spite 

 of their proximity to the Sunda Isles, where Rumphius 

 mentions their very general use. The Arabian physician, 

 Ebn Baithar, who collected in the thirteenth century all 

 that Eastern nations knew about medicinal plants, 

 says nothing about it. Roxburgh knew no Sanskrit 

 name for the capsicums. Later, Piddington mentions a 

 name for G. frutescens, bran-maricha? which he says is 

 Sanskrit; but this name, which may be compared to 

 that of black pepper (muricha, murichung), is probably 

 not really ancient, for it has left no trace in the Indian 

 languages which are derived from Sanskrit. 4 The wild 

 nature and ancient existence of the capsicum is always 

 uncertain, owing to its very general cultivation; but 

 it seems to me to be more often doubtful in Asia than in 

 South America. The Indian specimens described by tbe 

 most trustworthy authors nearly all come from the her- 

 baria of the East India Company, in which we never 

 know whether a plant appeared really wild, if it was 

 found far from dwellings, in forests, etc. For the 

 localities in the Malay Archipelago authors often give 

 rubbish-heaps, hedges, etc. We pass to a more particular 

 examination of the two cultivated species. 



Annual Capsicum Capsicum annuum, Linnaeus. 



This species has a number of different names in 

 European languages, 5 which all indicate a foreign origin 

 and the resemblance of the taste to that of pepper. In 

 French it is often called poivre de Guinee (Guinea 

 pepper), but also poivre du Bre'zil, d'Inde (Indian, Brazi- 

 lian pepper), etc., denominations to which no importance 

 can be attributed. Its cultivation was introduced into 

 Europe in the sixteenth century. It was one of the 

 peppers that Piso and Marcgraf 6 saw grown in Brazil 



Bretschneider, On the Study and Value, etc., p. 17. 



Forster, De Plantis Escul. Insul., etc. 8 Piddington, Index. 



Piddington, at the word Capsicum. 



Nemnich, Lexicon, gives twelve French and eight German names. 



Piso, p. 107; Marcgraf, p. 39. 



U 



