A KEVISION OF THE GENUS CAPSICUM. 55 



Tournefort in 1700, eighteen by Miller in 1731, though in 

 1771, after the binomial system had come into use, he gave 

 but ten specific names. Linnaeus in the first edition of 

 his Species Plantarum (1753) records two species, and in 

 his Mantissa (1767) recognizes two additional ones. In 

 the fourteenth edition of his Systema Vegetabilium, edited 

 by Murray (1789), one new species is given, and in the 

 Willdenow edition of the Species Plantarum (1797) still 

 another is added. Romer and Schultes, in their edition of 

 the Systema Vegetabilium (1819), add what they consider 

 fifteen good and three doubtful species to those already de- 

 scribed since the time of Linnaeus. Of these fifteen, only 

 one was given for the first time by them, all of the others 

 having been previously named by various botanists since 

 Willdenow's edition. In 1832 Fingerhuth recognized 

 twenty-five accepted species, together with seven requiring 

 further examination, and twenty-eight botanical varieties, 

 three of the species and most of the varieties being named 

 by him. In 1846 Sen dtner recorded ten species and numer- 

 ous varieties as occurring in Brazil alone, he having named 

 seven of the species. In 1852,Dunal recorded fifty accepted 

 species, of which eleven were described for the first time, 

 together with many varieties, and eleven species requiring 

 further examination, besides three doubtful ones. 



This was the last revision of the genus, and but three 

 new species have since been described. Altogether about 

 ninety specific names have been given, of which the Index 

 Kewensis recognizes fifty -four as good. Notwithstanding 

 this large number, modern authorities generally believe 

 that there are only a few. Professor Asa Gray, in a 

 letter to Dr. Sturtevant under date of Nov. 2, 1887, 

 expresses a fancy that there are only two species in 

 the genus.* Dr. Sturtevant, who had already made 

 a considerable study of the genus, expressed the opinion 

 that the published species in a majority of cases were only 

 forms, and that when these were reduced to synonyms 



* Agricultural Science 2: 1. 1883. 



