336 Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. 



Berries tapering, much longer than broad : — 



Fruit stout, flesh thick, usually mildly pungent ; calyx not 



enclosing base of berry . . . . . . 1. (7. annuum. 



Fruit slender, flesh thin, keenly pungent ; calyx enclosing f annuum, 



base of berry .. .. .. . .\\kB,. acuminata. 



Berries not much if at all longer than broad, usually obtuse ; 



calyx not enclosing base of berry : — 



Berries circular in section, sub-conical, ovate or oblong, \annuu7n, 



flesh thin, pungent .. .. .. .. {rkn. ahhreviata. 



Berries swollen, irregularly angled in section, prismatic, j anmawn., 

 quadrate or oblate, flesh very thick, hardly at all pungent | vae. grossa. 



Fruit globular, extremely pungent .. .. ..i ' .^ . 



(.VAE. cerasiformis . 



Flowers purple ; berries at first dark-purple, afterwards becoming 



orange-red, much longer than broad, only slightly pungent ; calyx | annwim, 



hardly enclosing base of berry . . . . . . ( vae. nigra. 



Pedicels 2 or more, erect ; fruit always erect, red, shorter than the 



pedicels, pungent ; plants perennial ; flowers always white or 



yellowish-white : — 



Berries elongated, tapering ; base embraced by the calyx .. 2. C . frutescens . 



Berries globose or sub-globose ; base seated on the calyx . . j/^^ s-'<cens, 



(vAR. baccata. 



1. Capsicum annuum, Linn. Sp. PI. 188. An erect branching or 

 rarely simple robust herb 2 to 3 feet high, with slightly ridged branches ; 

 glabrous throughout. Leaves membranous, elliptic or ovate, rather 

 long-acuminate, base long-cuneate, prolonged as a wing on upper 

 part of petiole, margin entire ; lamina 3 in. long, -75 to 1 in. wide, 

 rarely 1'5 in. wide, green on both surfaces ; petiole -25 to -6 in. long. 

 Floioers white or rarely (vab. nigra) purple ; pedicels almost always 

 solitary, though casually there may be more than one in a leaf-axil, 

 always drooping in flower, in fruit rigid, slightly thickened under the 

 enlarging calyx and variously erect, or spreading or recurved and 

 pendent, then -75 to 1 in. long. Calyx glabrous, campanulate, with 

 sinuate-dentate limb, -2 in. across ; in fruit enlarging into a shallow cup 

 embracing the lower part of fruit, or saucer-shaped with the base of the 

 fruit resting on it, then often -5 in. across. Corolla rotate, -4 in. 

 across ; 5-lobed. Ovary glabrous. Fruit erect, straight, very variable 

 in shape, colour, fleshiness and pungency. Irish Miss. Bot. Gard. Eep. 

 IX. 65. 



Vae. typica. Fruit much longer than broad, stout, tapering to the 

 usually narrow apex ; flesh thick, mildly pungent ; berry resting on 

 the saucer-shaped fruiting calyx ; colour variable. 



In gardens, occasionally, usually raised from seed imported from 

 Europe. 



This variety includes the many mild chillies which do not keep true to their 

 characters when their seed is collected in the tropics. 



