500 



PEPPER . AMENTACEJE. 



tered together in spikes ; this is also the arrangement of the 

 ripened grains, which consist of the ovarium inclosing the seed. 

 These are known as black pepper ; and it is when deprived of 



their husk, that they 

 constitute white pepper ; 

 which is less pungent. 

 The annual crop of each 

 pepper-plant varies from 

 half a pound to a pound ; 

 and the whole quantity 

 collected every year for 

 human consumption, is 

 probably not far short of 

 fifty million pounds. Of 

 this a much larger pro- 

 portion is consumed in 

 tropical countries, the in- 

 habitants of which are 

 fonder of highly-seasoned 

 dishes than in Europe; 

 nevertheless, nearly ten 

 million pounds are an- 

 nually imported into Bri- 

 tain, of which only about 



FIG. 178.-BRANCH OF BLACK PEPPER, with spikes One-fourth is COHSUmed 



of unopened flowers above, and of fruit below; a, J n tne COU ntry. Pepper 



portion of flower-stem, with three flowers ; 6, single ' 



fruit ; c, the same cut open. from other Species forms 



a small proportion of the 



whole ; long pepper, as it is termed, is the unripe cluster of 

 flowers, which has nearly similar properties with the fruit. 

 Cayenne pepper, as it is termed, more properly Capsicum, is 

 the seed-vessel of a plant of an entirely different natural order, 

 that of Solaneae. 



676. We now come to a very extensive group, which com- 

 prehends a large proportion of the forest trees of our own country 

 and other temperate regions, such as the Oak, Beech, Elm, 



