PEPPERS. 185 



statement of his views, and after some discussion by Col. Henry 

 W. Wilson and Edward L. Beard, the resolution was, on motion 

 of Mr. Beard, referred to the Executive Committee. 



The meeting was then dissolved. 



MEETING FOR DISCUSSION. 



This was the last meeting of the series for the discussion of hor- 

 ticultural subjects, and was reserved for such topics as might be 

 suggested. The Chairman of the Committee on Discussion 

 announced that Dr. E. L. Sturtevant was present, and would 

 speak of the genus Capsicum (Peppers) , which he had been investi- 

 gating. 



Dr. Sturtevant began bj' quoting a remark of the late Professor 

 Gray, that peppers were the terror of the botanists. "Varieties 

 and species have been classified by botanists which are known 

 only by the descriptions and plates in books. The speaker had 

 endeavored to collect as many varieties as possible, to study by 

 personal observation of the living plant and fruit. He had re- 

 ceived fifteen varieties fi'om Mexico, the same number from Brazil, 

 one from the Gaboon, Africa, and a large number from seedsmen. 

 The special point which he wished to determine was what changes 

 are effected by cultivation and climate, and he had arrived at some 

 interesting conclusions. 



In the first place, he had found very little change to be ascribed to 

 cultivation. Capsicum annuuin L. is a variable species, not neces- 

 sarily annual in a greenhouse. A variety figured by Fuchsius in 

 1542, is found growing in Mexico in a semi- wild condition, and 

 showing no change in three centuries and a half. C. grossum and 

 C. longxcm are considered varieties of this species. 



It has been assumed that the curve of the stem of peppers is 

 caused by the weight of the fruit ; but the largest and earliest of 

 sixt^'-nine varieties tested held its fruit upright. The fruit of this 

 variety was absolutely sweet. He showed three types of fruit from 

 the same plant. He had other varieties which could with con- 

 siderable certainty be assigned to C. annuum; one with cherry 

 and oblate-shaped fruit on the same plant, another with 

 three types on the same plant, and a yellow angulosum. A 

 variety ascribed by some to C. annuum, introduced by Messrs. 

 Vilmorin in 1876, he found figured in a Japanese botanical work 



