XI 



CAPSICUMS 363 



pepper (a spherical fruit, extremely hot), bull-nose, sweet 

 mountain, monstrous Spanish, mammoth, red tomato, 

 all not or hardly at all pungent, and consequently 

 seldom if ever used as a spice. I have, however, seen a 

 cold cayenne pepper made from this form, which had 

 a very pleasant flavour, and might find a market as a 

 condiment. 



It is probable that C. grossum is only a highly culti- 

 vated form of annuum. It is, however, given in many 

 books as a distinct species, as is the hot flavoured cherry 

 capsicum, under the name of C. cerasiocarpum, which 

 is generally now considered a variety of C. grossum. 



HISTORY 



There is no doubt that all the species of capsicum 

 were originally natives of Central and South America 

 and the West Indies, although the plants are now spread 

 widely over the whole world except the colder regions. 



The earliest mention of this spice is found in a letter 

 written by Chanca, physician to the fleet of Columbus, 

 in his second voyage, to the Chapter of Seville in 1494. 

 He says that the natives of Hispaniola (Mexico) live 

 on a root called " Age " (yarn), which they season with 

 a spice named " Agi," also eaten with fish and meat. 

 This " Agi " signifies capsicums, and is still the common 

 name in Spanish. It was later described by Fernandez 

 (Historia de las Indias, i. p. 275) in 1514. 



A plant so easy of transport by seed was not long 

 in reaching the East Indies, and thence was carried to 

 Europe. Fuchs, in the Historia stirpium, fol. 733 

 (1542), describes and figures it as Siliquastrum, or 

 Calicut pepper, brought from India into Germany a few 

 years before. Clusius states that the plant was brought 

 from Pernambuco by the Portuguese, and cultivated in 

 Castile and Moravia abundantly in 1585. Garcia da 

 Orta, 1593, writes: "This capsicum or Indian pepper 

 (rather American pepper) is diligently cultivated all 

 over Castile by gardeners, as also by women in hanging 



