Botany of tJie Pepper 



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deeply and acutelj' 5-lobed (but with more lobes in some of the 

 cultivated forms) ; stamens normally 5 (often 6 or 7), the 

 bluish anthers separate and erect and surrounding the single 

 straight central style, filaments equalling or exceeding the 

 anthers and attached on the base of the corolla ; ovary globu- 

 lar, about equalling the calyx, 2- to 3-celled : fruit a dryish 

 or somewhat succulent many-seeded pod-like berry of many 

 sizes and shapes, erect or declined, usually scarlet or yellow 

 (sometimes black) when ripe: seeds flat and smooth, light col- 

 ored, circular in outline with a hollowed projecting base on 

 one side, those of the large bell peppers about in- across 

 and weighing 5 to S mg. ; vitality 3 to 5 years. — Probably 

 tropical American and now spontaneous in many countries, 

 not certainly known as a wild plant ; probably not of very 

 ancient cultivation. Some of the many forms of the culti- 

 vated plant may be grouped briefly as follows: Yar. grossum, 

 Sendtner in Martins, Fl. Bras, x, 147. 1846-1856. (C. grossum, 

 Linn. Manti. i, 47. 1767.) Bell Pepper. Comprises the bell 

 and bullnose sweet peppers : plants stout and tall, with large 

 oblong-ovate leaves 4 or 5 in. long, flowers about 1 in. or 

 more across, bearing very large usually puffy hanging fruits 

 with a depression or basin at base and apex blunt, often fur- 

 rowed at the sides. Yar. longum, Sendt., Fl. Bras, x, 147. 

 Long Pepper. Large-leaved stout plant, with peppers 3 to 12 

 in. long and narrow, sometimes 2 in. thick at base. Black 

 Nubian, Long Red, Long Yellow, Elephant's Trunk, Ivory Tusk, 

 are varieties in this group. Yar. acuminatum, Fingerhut, 

 Monogr. Caps., 13. 1832. Chilli. Differs from var. longum 

 in being a smaller and less coarse plant with smaller leaves, 

 and the usually curved fruit very slender, % in. or less thick 

 and % to 4% in. long, erect or declined. Long Cayenne and 

 Chilli peppers belong here. Yar. fasciculatum, Irish, 9th Rep. 

 Mo. Bot. Card. 68, 1898. (C. fasciculatum, Sturtevant, Bull. 

 Torr. Club, xv, 133. 1888.) Red Cluster. Plant compact, with 

 narrow clustered leaves and erect clustered slender very hot 

 fruit which is about 3 in. long and i/l in. thick. Yar. conoides, 

 Irish, 9th Rep. Mo. 65. (C. conoides, Mill Gard. Diet No. 1. 



