NIGHTSHADE FAMILY. 255 



longer than the leaves. Calyx 5 -parted, aculeate. Corolla bluish-white. Berries one -fourth 

 to one-third of an inch in diameter. 



Pastures and cultivated grounds especially in the Southern States. Fl. July. Fr. 

 October. 



Obs. This is an exceedingly pernicious weed, and so tenacious of life 

 that it is almost impossible to get rid of it, when once fully introduced. 

 It grows in patches so thickly as to deter stock from feeding among it, 

 and even to monopolize the soil, while its roots gradually extend 

 around, and to a great depth. It is a native of the Southern States, 

 but has found its way to several localities in Pennsylvania. The farmers 

 will do well, therefore, to enable themselves to know it when they meet 

 it, and moreover, to eradicate it, promptly and effectually, wherever 

 they find it on their premises. 



3. CAP'SICUM, Tournef. CAPSICUM. 



[Greek, kapto, to bite ; from its hot or biting quality.] 



Calyx angular, 5 - 6-cleft, persistent. Corolla sub-rotate, with a very 

 short tube, the limb plicate, 5 - 6-lobed. Stamens 5-6, exserted ; 

 anthers shorter than the filaments, heart-shaped, longitudinally dehiscent. 

 Berry nearly dry, inflated, polymorphous, incompletely 2 - 3-celled. 

 Seeds numerous, compressed, reniform. 



1. 0. AN'NUUM, L. Stem herbaceous ; leaves ovate, acuminate, entire, 



glabrous ; peduncles solitary, axillary. 



ANNUAL CAPSICUM. Red Pepper. Cayenne Pepper. 



Fr. Poivre d'Inde. Germ. Spanischer Pfeffer. Span. El Pimentero, 

 and El Chili. 



Root annual. Stem 1 -2 feet high, angular, ; branching above. Leaves 2 - 4 inches long, 

 deep green ; petioles 1-3 inches long, semi-terete, slightly channeled above. Corolla 

 whito, with ovate-oblong spreading lobes. Anthers white, with a tinge of blue. Berry 

 hollow, terete and slender, ovoid-oblong, or depressed-globose, angular or torose, red 

 when mature. 



Gardens and lots : cultivated. Native of South America. Fl. July -Aug. Fr. Oct. 



Obs. Culffvated for its fruit, which is powerfully stimulant, and much 

 used as a condiment. Several varieties (perhaps distinct species) with 

 the fruit of various forms are to be met with in the gardens. That one 

 with slender terete elongated fruit, is sometimes cultivated on a large 

 scale, for the manufacture of Cayenne Pepper, from the mature fruit : 

 the other forms with thicker rinds, are used in the green state for 

 pickles. 



In Mexico and other warm countries of this continent, this is almost one 

 of the necessaries of life. The common people living mostly upon vege- 

 table food, use this stimulant freely, and either in its green state, " chili 

 verde," or ripe, " chili Colorado," it forms an accompaniment to every meal. 

 C. baccatum, C.frutescens, and perhaps other species, furnish the imported 

 " bird pepper" which is, when green, used to make pepper-vinegar or 

 pepper-sauce, and in the ripe state ground to form the Cayenne of the 

 shops. 



