242 SPICES 



CHAP. 



on each vine. In the cultivated forms usually the 

 spikes are hermaphroditejhaving stamens alongside of 

 the pistil. The presence and abundance of stamens in 

 the spikes is of the utmost importance to the planter, 

 for if the supply of pollen is not sufficient the spikes 

 will be partly sterile, and the crop of pepper small. 



[The fruit of the pepper is a nearly globular drupe, v 

 about -J- in. through when ripe, at first of a dull green 

 colour and crowned at the top with the starlike stigmas, 

 but eventually becoming red. When ripe it has a thin 

 red skin, beneath which is a thin pulpy layer which 

 encloses the round white seed, ^he fruits do not all 

 ripen at the same time on the spike, and one can see them 

 in a single spike in all stages of development, some 

 apparently healthy having made no growth, others half 

 grown.U In good spikes, however, nearly all are approxi- 

 mately of the same size, when nearly ripe. 



Good spikes are 4 in. long, and when ripe about ^ in. 

 through, and bearing about fifty peppercorns, but the 

 size of the spike and number of fruits varies according 

 to the variety cultivated. 



[Exactly how the pollen is transferred to the stigmas 

 is not certain. Barber points out that flushing takes 

 place in India in the heavy driving rains of the 

 monsoon, and suggests that rain and wind are necessary 

 to dash the pollen from the male flowers to the female 

 pistils. The flowers, however, are produced in the dryer 

 parts of the year in the Straits Settlements, and it is 

 more probable that the wind is the fertiliser. Ants, 

 however, may often be seen running about all over the 

 spikes, and may carry the pollen as well.. 



The number of flowers in a spike is estimated by 

 Barber as between 75 and 100J He estimates the 

 number of pollen grains in a hermaphrodite spike as ( 

 30,000 to 40,000, and as one pollen grain is enough to 

 fertilise each stigma, there is an ample reserve of pollen 

 for the hundred stigmas. Still, it is very common to 

 see blanks in the fruit spike where for some reason the 

 pistil has failed to be fertilised. 



