Capsicum.] xci. solanace^e (wkight) 251 



much curved, near the circumference ; cotyledons semiterete. — Annual 

 or perennial much-branched herbs, rarely shrubby at the base. Leaves 

 entire or repand. Pedicels solitary or 2-3-nate. Fruit erect or 

 nodding. 



Species about 50, chiefly natives of Tropical America ; many cultivated through- 

 out the tropics. 

 Calyx truncate. 



Branchlets nearly glabrous . . . . . 1. C.frutescens. 



Branchlets hirsute . . . . . . 2. C. abyssinicum. 



Calyx dentate. 



Berry oblong-linear . . . . . 3. C. annuum. 



Berry more or less ovoid. 



Peduncles geminate, erect . . . . 4. C. baccatum. 



Peduncies solitary, nodding . . . . 5. C. cordiforme. 



1. C. frutescens, Linn. Sp. PI. ed. 1, 189. A shrub, 2-3 ft. high; 

 branches flexuous ; branchlets slightly angled, nearly glabrous. Leaves 

 solitary or geminate, ovate, acuminate, attenuate into the petiole, 

 glabrous or slightly ciliateon the margin, very variable in size. Flowers 

 solitary or in pairs ; peduncles |~f in. long, thickened upwards, erect 

 in fruit. Calyx cup-shaped, truncate, 10-nervecl, sometimes minutely 

 5-toothed. Corolla white or pale yellow; lobes lanceolate, acute, 

 patent. Ovary ovoid, glabrous. Berry ovoid-oblong, obtuse, shining 

 red. — Fingerhuth, Monogr. Capsic. 17, t. 4, fig. c ; Dunal in DC. Proclr. 

 xiii. i. 413 ; Sendtn. in Mart. Fl. Bras. x. 142 ; C. B. Clarke in Hook, 

 f. Fl. Brit. Ind. iv. 239; Cummins in Kew Bulletin, 1898, 77 ; Irish in 

 Rep. Missouri Bot. Gard. 1898, 97 ; Hiern in Cat. Afr. PI. Welw. i. 

 751. C. conicmn, Meyer in Kotschy, Iter. Kub. n. 292 ; Zarb in Cat. 

 Spec. Bot. Pfund, 31. C. conoides, Roem. & Schult. Byst. iv. 562; 

 Fingerhuth, I.e. 14. 0. fastigiatum, Blume, Bijdr. 705 ; Benth. & Trim. 

 Medic. PI. t. 188. — Capo-molago, Rheede, Hort. M-ilab. ii. 109, t. 56. 



Upper Guinea. Senegal, Roger! Sierra Leone. Vugel, 30! Ashiuiti : 

 Assin yun Kumassi, Cummins, 152 ! Togo : near Lome, Wameclce, 356 ! 

 Nile Land. Kordofan, Kotschy, 292 ! Pfund, 233 ! 246 ! 288 ! 

 Lower Guinea. Angola : Ambriz, Welivitsch, 6066 ! 

 Cultivated throughout the tropics; native country uncertain. 

 Guinea, Bird or African pepper. 



2. C. abyssinicum, A. Rich. Tent, Fl. Abyss, ii. 96. An erect 

 shrub ; branches geniculate, hirsute. Leaves ovate, acuminate, obtuse 

 and slightly unequal (rarely subacute) at the base, entire, hirsute 

 especially on the under side of the nerves, petioled. Peduncle 1- 

 flowered, hirsute. Calyx truncate, obsoletely 5-toothed. Corolla 

 explanate ; lobes 5, oval-oblong. Fruit 2 in. long, oblong, slightly 

 curved at the apex, smooth, shining. — Schweinf. Beitr. Fl. Aethiop. 

 87. 



Wile Land. Abyssinia : without precise locality, Quartin Dillon Sf Petit. 



3. C. annuum, Linn. Sp. PI. eel. i. 188. Herbaceous, rarely 

 suffrutescent, 2-5 ft. high ; branches many, erect, angular, glabrous. 



