STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 1 35 



ground. Garcilasso de la Vega ' speaks of it as an ancient vegetable in Peru, and one 

 variety was especially valued by royalty. The earliest reference to this genus seems to 

 be by Chanca,^ physician to the fleet of Columbus, in his second voyage, and occurs in 

 a letter written in 1494 to the Chapter of Seville. Capsicum and its uses are more 

 particularly described by Oviedo,' who reached tropical America from Spain in 15 14. 



Hans Stade,* about 1550, mentions the capsicum of the continent of America as being 

 of two kinds: " The one yellow, the other red, both, however, grow in like manner. When 

 green it is as large as the haws that grow on hawthorns. It is a small shrub, about half 

 a fathom high and has small leaves; it is fiill of peppers which bum the mouth." Lignon 

 in his History of the Barbadoes, 1647 to 1653, describes two sorts in Barbados: " The one 

 so like a child's corall, as not to be discerned at the distance of two paces, a crimson and 

 scarlet mixt; the fruit about three inches long and shines more than the best poUisht 

 corall. The other, of the same coloiir and glistening as much but shaped like a large 

 button of a cloak; both of one and the same quality; both violently strong and growing 

 on a little shrub no bigger than a gooseberry bush." Long^ says there are about 15 

 varieties of capsicum in Jamaica, which are found in most parts of the island. Those 

 which are most commonly noticed are the Bell, Goat, Bonnett, Bird, Olive, Hen, Barbary, 

 Finger and Cherry. Of these the Bell is esteemed most proper for pickling. Wafer,' 

 1699, speaking of the Isthmus, says: " They have two sorts of pepper, the one called 

 Bell-pepper, the other Bird-pepper, each sort growing on a weed or shrubby bush about 

 a yard high. The Bird-pepper has the smaller leaf and is most esteemed by the Indians." 



Garcilasso de la Vega ' in his Royal Commentaries, 1609, says the most common pepper 

 in Peru is thick, somewhat long, and without a point. This is called rocot uchu, or thick 

 pepper, to distingioish it from the next kind. They eat it green and before it assumes 

 its ripe color, which is red. There are others yellow and others brown, though in Spain 

 only the red kind has been seen. There is another kind the length of a geme, a little more 

 or less, and the thickness of the little finger. These were considered a nobler kind and 

 were reserved for the use of the royal family. Another kind of pepper is small and round, 

 exactly like a cherry with its stalk. They call it chinchi uchu and it bears far more than 

 the others. It is grown in small quantities and for that reason is the more highly esteemed. 

 Molina ' says many species of the pimento, called by the Indians thapi, " are cultivated 

 in Chili, among others the annual pimento which is there perennial, the berry pimento, 

 and the pimento with a subligenous stalk." Capsicums were eaten in large quantities 

 by the ancient inhabitants of tropical America, and the natives of Guiana now eat the 

 fruit in such abundance as would not be credited by an European unless he were to see 

 it. In Sonora and New Mexico, at the present time, they are imiversally grown, and 



' Vega Hoy. Comment. Hak. Soc. Ed. 2:365. 1871. 

 ' Fliickiger and Hanbury Pharm. 406. 1879. 

 Ibid. 



* Captiv. Hans Stade. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 166. 1874. 

 ' Long Hist. Jam. 3 : 72 1 . 1 774. 



Wafer Voy. Isthmus Amer. 100. 1699. 



'Vega Roy. Comment. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 2:365. 1871. 



Molina Hist. Chili i :95. 1808. 



