56 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 



the number of species that would be accepted by botanists 

 would be very small.* Dr. H. H. Rusby wrote Dr. 

 Sturtevant, April 9th, 1888, saying: " I have seen a good 

 deal of the genus in South America and have observed a 

 great tendency to variation. I have seen but few well dis- 

 tinguished forms and about these are grouped hosts, pre- 

 senting every shade of variation in size, color, form, and 

 surface-planes of fruit. There are corresponding differ- 

 ences in pungency and flavor, in detecting which the natives 

 are very expert. Each man will have some cherished 

 plant that to him is very distinct, and far superior to 

 anything that his neighbors can boast." 



In regard to the great variability of Capsicum, Professor 

 G. S. Jenman, of the Government Botanist's Office at 

 Georgetown, British Guiana, wrote Mr. Dewart, August 24, 

 1892, that the genus there presents an infinite variety, and 

 where several kinds are grown together the fruit of par- 

 ticular forms is often much modified by cross-fertilization, 

 though this apparently does not apply to all varieties. 

 Professor J. H. Hart, Superintendent of the Botanical 

 Department of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Trinidad, 

 during the same year wrote Mr. Dewart as follows ; " We 

 do not make any specific distinction between the Capsicums 

 from here for the simple reason that they degenerate so 

 quickly to a simple form under cultivation that we cannot 

 refer them to more than a single species. Some of the 

 finest will in four or five generations be nothing more than 

 ' Bird-pepper ' of which the forms are as many as the 

 days of the year." 



My work mainly adds strong testimony to the observa- 

 tions of these gentlemen. A number of well-marked types 

 have been preserved for centuries, and within them various 

 forms have constantly appeared. Upon these forms, in 

 my opinion, a large number of the so-called species have 

 been based. I have therefore separated them into two 

 species and preserved the well-fixed types as botanical 



* Agricultural Science 2: 1. 1888. 



