544 Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin.  [June, 
The nasturtiums have received greater welcome in our flower 
gardens than for table use, and a large number of varieties have 
been developed as florists’ plants. 
Peppers—There seems to be now scarcely a doubt as to the 
American origin of the peppers, Capsicum sp. It seems, how- 
ever, to have escaped the attention that it deserves, that the large 
number of forms already developed at the time of the discovery 
of America is indicative of a long cultivation, and adds testimony 
to the agricultural habits of the people. A vernacular name, 
especially if short, is very persistent in its horticultural use, and 
in. those varieties of vegetables which are grown in kitchen gar- 
dens, some names alone, without descriptive text, may be as- 
sumed as indicative of the existence of a variety to which the 
same name is applied to-day. Such investigations as we have 
made indicate that this is especially true for the peppers. 
ow many species there are of peppers I cannot make out. 
Many described species can be urhesitatingly referred to Capsi- 
cum annuum, a species of great variability, and which seems to 
be a perennial in some regions, as in F lorida, as I am informed, 
and in Chili, according to Molina. We shall make use of the 
specific names as we find them. 
According to Bancroft! the use of peppers by the Southern 
natives was as great in ancient times as is now observed. Saha- 
grun? mentions chili more frequently than any other herb among 
the edible dishes of the Aztecs; Veytia® says the Olmecs raised 
chili before the time of the Toltecs. “ ft is the principal sauce 
and the only spice of the Indians” as Acosta writes in I 578, and 
Schomburgh says that the present Indians of Guiana eat the 
fruit of these plants in such abundance as would not be credited 
by an European unless he were to see it. Columbus carried 
peppers with him on his return voyage in 1493, and Peter Mar- 
tyr, in his epistle dated September, 1493, Says it was “more pun- 
gent than that from Caucasus.” In 1494 a letter written by 
Chanca, physician to the fleet of Columbus on his second voyage, 
to the Chapter of Seville, refers to its use as a condiment. Cap- 
sicum and its uses are more particularly described by Oviedo, 
1 Native Races, 11. 
? Hist. Gen., 11, lib. vir. 
