A REVISION OF THE GENUS CAPSICUM WITH ESPECIAL 

 REFERENCE TO GARDEN VARIETIES. 



BY H. C. IRISH. 



A revision of the genus Capsicum * from an agricultural 

 rather than a strictly botanical standpoint, was first sug- 

 gested by Dr. E. Lewis Sturtevant,f who afterwardhimself 

 selected the subject for special study and began collecting 

 and cultivating a large number of kinds, at the same time 

 recording complete descriptions from living plants. In 

 1892 all of his material bearing upon the subject, includ- 

 ing many herbarium specimens, drawings, colored plates 

 and notes was given to the Missouri Botanical Garden J on 

 condition that the genus should receive study with a view 

 to the ultimate publication of the results in monographic 

 form. All garden varieties which were procurable, together 

 with numerous so-called species, have been cultivated at the 

 Garden for four years, furnishing valuable material in the 

 prosecution of the work. In beginning operations, Mr. F. 



* Tournef. Inst. 152. 1700. Linn. Gen. PI. 195. 1742. Jussieu, 

 Gen. PI. 126. 1789. Linn. Syst. PI. 1: 1050. 1797 [ed. Willd.]. Miller, 

 Card. Diet. 1797 [ed. Martyn]. Willd. Enum. Hort. Berol. 237. 

 1809. Kunth, Nov. Gen. Sp. PI. 3: 48. 1818. Fingerh. Monogr. Gen. 

 Capsici. 1832. Nees von Esenb. Trans. Linn. Soc. 17 : 62. 1832. 

 Meisner, PI. Gen. 277. 1836-43. Don, Hist. Dich. PL 4: 444. 1838. 

 Endlicher, Gen. PI. 665. 1840 [no. 3854]. Sendt. in Martins, Fl. Bras. 

 10: 142. 1846. Dunal in DC. Prodr. IS 1 : 411. 1852. Miquel, Fl. 

 Ned. Ind. 2:657. 1856. Benth. & Hooker, Gen. PI. 2: 892. 1876. 

 Nicholson, Diet. Gard. 1884. Baillon, Hist. PL 9: 331. 1888. Engler 

 & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. <4 3b : 20. 1891. Kuntze, Eevis. Gen. PL 447. 

 1891. 



English, Red Pepper t Guinea Pepper. French, Piment, Poivre d'Inde 

 ou de Guinea. German, Spanischer Pfeffer. Italian, Peperone. Mexi- 

 can, Chilli. Hindostan, Tschili. Hungarian, Paprika. Spanish, 

 Pimiento. Portuguese, Pimento, Pimentas. 



f American Naturalist 25 : 550. 1885. 



I Kept. Mo. Bot. Gard. 4: 15. 1893. 



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