SOLAN AC EiE. 497 



Capsicum. — Tournefort. 



Calyx 5-toothed, persistent. Corolla rotate, 5-cleft. Stamens 5, with converging an- 

 thers, which are two-celled, dehiscing by fissures. Fruit a juiceless, coriaceous berry, 

 2 — 4-celled, many-seeded. Seeds naked. 



A genus almost exclusively of American tropical plants, but the species 

 are now naturalized in most warm climates ; they are usually herbaceous, 

 or sufFruticose annuals, or perennials, and are distinguished by the hot and 

 pungent character of their fruits. One species only is officinal, though all of 

 them possess the same qualities. 



C. annuum, Linn. — Stem herbaceous. Peduncles solitary, smooth. Fruit pendulous, 

 oblong. 



Linn., Sp. PI. 270 ; Woodville, t. 80 ; Stephenson and Churchill, i. 44 ; 

 Lindley, Flor. Med., 509. 



Common Names. — Red Pepper ; Capsicum ; Cayenne Pepper. 

 Foreign Names. — Poivre d'Inde, Fr. ; Pepperone, It. ; Spanischer, oder 

 Turkischer PfefFer, Ger. 



Description. — Annual, from one to two feet high. Stem herbaceous, crooked, much 

 branched, smooth, somewhat angular. Leaves ovate, acuminate, smooth, entire, of a dark 

 green colour, supported on long petioles. , Flowers solitary, on curved peduncles, arising 

 from the axils of the leaves ; of a greenish-white colour. The calyx is persistent, tubular, 

 and five-lobed. The corolla is rotate, with a five-cleft limb. The stamens are five, with 

 oblong anthers. The ovary is ovate, with a filiform style, terminated by a blunt stigma. 

 The fruit is a long, pendulous, inflated berry or pod, smooth, shining, of a crimson or 

 yellow colour ; two-celled, containing a spongy pulp, and numerous flat, kidney-shaped 



This species varies much in the form and colour of its pods. It is gene- 

 rally considered to be a native both of Asia and America, and to be the 

 Piperita or Siliquastrum of Pliny ; but as late writers are of opinion that it 

 is not a native of the former of these countries, that author could not have 

 been acquainted with it. At the same time, if it be not the plant known to 

 the Romans, there is scarcely any other to which the description will apply, 

 except to the C. frutescens, which is the C. indicum of Rheede, and this is 

 said to have been used in the East from time immemorial, and is stated by 

 Crawfurd (Archipel., 182), to grow wild in the Eastern Islands; but is 

 likewise supposed by Rumphius to be American, from its Malay name 

 being of Mexican or Peruvian origin. Be this as it may, the two are now 

 cultivated in all parts of the world, and more especially in warm climates, 

 where they are consumed in large quantities as a condiment, as is also 

 another species, the C. baccatum or Bird pepper ; all are known under the 

 common name of Chillies. The C. annuum is much cultivated in this 

 country, principally for culinary purposes, those used in medicine being 

 generally imported from Africa and the West Indies. 



In tropical countries Chillies are used in great quantities, and are supposed 

 to aid the digestive functions, so generally weakened by a residence in hot 

 climates. The inhabitants of these regions not only employ them as a 

 seasoning to their food, but eat them raw with relish, whilst strangers from 

 more temperate parts cannot support with impunity their pungent and acrid 

 action on the mouth and throat. 



These peppers when dried and ground form what is called Cayenne Pepper, 

 the best of which is made from C. baccatum, or from the African, which 



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