5 GO ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



under tlie name quija or qvAya. They say nothing as to 

 its origin. The species appears to have been eai"ly culti- 

 vated in the West Indies, where it has several Carib names.^ 



Botanists who have most thoroughly studied the 

 genus Capsicum^ do not appear to have found in herbaria 

 a single specimen which can be considered wild. I have 

 not been more fortunate. The original home is probably 

 Brazil. 



G. grossum, Willdenow, seems to be a variety of the 

 same species. It is cultivated in India under the name 

 kafree murich, and ha free chilly, but Roxburgh did not 

 consider it to be of Indian origin.^ 



Shrubby Capsicum Capsiciiin frutescens, Willdenow. 



This species, taller and with a more woody stock than 

 C. annuum, is generally cultivated in the warm regions 

 of both hemispheres. The great part of our so-called 

 Cayenne pepper is made from it, but this name is given 

 also to the product of other peppers. Roxburgh, the 

 author who is most attentive to the origin of Indian 

 plants, does not consider it to be wild in India. Bin me 

 says it is naturalized in the Malay Archipelago in hedges.* 

 In America, on the contrary, Avhere its culture is ancient, 

 it has been several times found wild in forests, apparently 

 indigenous. De Martins brought it from the banks of 

 the Amazon, Poeppig from the province of Maynas in 

 Peru, and Blanchet from the province of Bahia^ So that 

 its area extends from Bahia to Eastern Peru, which ex- 

 plains its diffusion over South America generally. 



Tomato LycopersicvAn esculentum, Lliller. 



The tomato, or love apple, belongs to a genus of the 

 Solanese, of which all the species are American.^ It 

 has DO name in the ancient languages of Asia, nor even 

 in modem Indian languages.'' It was not cultivated in 

 Japan in the time of Thunberg, that is to say a century 



Desconrtilz, FJore Medicale des Antilles, vi. pi. 423. 



' Fingerhuth, Monographia Gen. Capsici, p. 12 ; Sendtner, in Flora 

 Brasil.. vol. x. p. 147. 



Roxburgh, Fl. Ind., edit. Wall, ii. p. 260; edit. 1832, ii. p. 574. 



Blume, Bijdr., ii. p. 704. * Sendtner, in Fl. Bras., x. p. 143. 



Alph. de Candolle, Prodr., xiii. part 1, p. 26. 



' Roxburgh, Fl. Ind., edit. 1832, vol. i. p. 565 ; Piddington, Index. 



