of the Cyclopedia, we find diversities between our plant and the Grana Paradisi, which it appears to us 
impossible to reconcile ; although we shall still be anxious to obtain any information that may throw further 
light upon the subject. 
Some years since, these seeds formed an important article of commerce, and were imported in considerable 
quantities from the coast of Africa, and sold to dealers in London, Bristol and Liverpool. They were 
used by brewers for mixing with porter and ale, by distillers and rectifiers for making compounds, and by 
druggists for medicinal purposes instead of cardamoms. I have been assured by a friend, that fifteen years 
since, he has seen 20 or 30 tons sold to a single dealer, at from £4 to £5 per cwt. duty paid, and 
that five or six tons were usually imported in a ship from Guinea; but some idea having arisen that they 
were of a deleterious quality, the duty was, in 1825, raised two shillings per lb, amounting nearly to a 
prohibition ; since which time, the consumption has been very small. In the fourth Report of the African 
Institution, p. 16, the Directors observe, “that the duties on this article have been doubled, not with a 
view of increasing the revenue, but as operating as a prohibition of the use of it.” The Directors also 
state in the same report, “that they have great reason to doubt the existence of the deleterious qualities 
ascribed to this drug, as they find it to be universally esteemed in Africa as one of the most wholesome 
of spices, and generally used by the natives to season their food.” In the above observations we fully 
concur, being convinced that not a single deleterious plant is to be found in the whole Scitaminean tribe. 
That the plant we have here figured, although brought from Demerara, is a native of Africa, whence 
it has been brought to the tropical climates of America, we entertain little doubt; and that the diversities 
we have observed may be the effect of a different country, and different cultivation, we are not prepared 
positively to deny. That our plant produces the seeds called Melegueta Pepper we have ascertained by 
comparing them with those imported under that name from Africa, and sold in the shops of the druggists 
in Liverpool ; and we have therefore given to our plant the specific name of Melegueta, from the absolute 
certainty of this being the plant by which. that article is produced. 
The specimens from which our drawing was taken were sent by Mr. C. S. Parker from Demerara, where 
it is extensively cultivated, and where the seeds are much used by the inhabitants as a valuable ingredient 
in their diet. The specimens sent by Mr. Parker were both dried, and in spirits, in the latter of which 
the flowers were preserved in the highest perfection; a fine capsule was also enclosed in a bottle closely 
sealed, without any liquid, the seeds of which were on their arrival sown in the Botanic Garden at 
Liverpool, and have produced numerous plants now in a healthy and growing’ state. 
REFERENCES. 
1. Entire flower and. floral bractes. 
2. Exterior limb of corolla. 
3. Filament, anther, style and stigma. 
4. Filament seen at the back. 
5 & 6. The same parts separate, shewing also the germinal processes. 
7. Interior limb of corolla or lip. 
8. Germen. 
9. Calyx. 
10. Capsule and permanent. bractes. 
11. Interior seed vessel. 
12. Seeds. 
