BITTERSWEET 611 



Pimenton or Pimiento, also known as Spanish Paprika, is the 

 fruit of a large-fruited pepper, a variety of Capsicum annuum, growing 

 in Spain. The succulent pericarp is much used for stuffing of olives, 

 while the dry pod is ground as a spice. The pods are nearly spheroi- 

 dal from 2.5 to 4 cm. in length and 4 to 6 cm. in diameter, of a bright 

 red color, and with no perceptible pungency. The pericarps have a 

 sweet acid taste and a peculiar odor. The seeds have a very slight 

 bitter, bland taste, with a slight odor. The placentae are dark red 

 in color and have a taste similar to the pericarp. Like the Hungarian 

 pepper it is usually imported in the ground condition. 



Literature. Tolman and Mitchell, Bull. No. 163, Bureau of 

 Chemistry, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 



Dulcamara. STIPITES DULCAMARA, CAULES DULCAMARA, 

 TRUE BITTERSWEET. The young branches of Solanum Dulcamara 

 (Fam. Solanacese), a somewhat woody climber, indigenous to Europe 

 and Asia, growing hi moist thickets hi the northern United States 

 and Canada, and to some extent cultivated. The leaves are ovate- 

 cordate, frequently having 2 lobes or leaflets at the base; the corolla 

 is blue, the stamens yellow and exserted; and the fruit is an ovoid 

 or sub-globular red berry. The latter are sometimes eaten by chil- 

 dren with fatal effects. The woody, 2 or 3 year old, twigs are gath- 

 ered in the early spring or the late fall, cut into small pieces and dried. 



Description. In short cylindrical or elliptical pieces, from 3 

 to 6 mm. in length and having a diameter from 4 to 6 mm. ; outer 

 surface light yellowish or greenish brown, longitudinally wrinkled 

 or furrowed and frequently showing leaf scars and a development 

 of scaly cork; easily broken into 3 or 5 fragments; inner surface 

 showing a thin, yellowish-brown corky layer, a small, dark-brown, 

 somewhat lamellated cortex, a broad, yellowish, porous wood, and 

 a large hollow pith; odor slight, distinct; taste of bark bitter, and of 

 wood sweetish. 



Inner Structure. Epidermal layer having a thin cuticle which is 

 present in the young twigs, and is usually replaced in the older stems 

 by a layer of cork; cortical parenchyma consisting of a few strata of 

 thin-walled cells, containing chloroplastids; pericycle of an inter- 

 rupted circle of small groups of bast fibers; fibrovascular bundles, 

 bi-collateral, separated by uniseriate medullary rays; secondary 

 cortex of narrow strands of leptome and parenchyma containing 

 sphenoidal microcrystals; xylem having numerous wood fibers, a 

 few tracheae and wood parenchyma; small strands of intraxylary 

 leptome; pith hollow, having a few large parenchyma cells at the 

 periphery. 



