[Dec.  I,  1896. 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
375 
Bengal  with  some  ceremony.  It  ia  made  up  by 
pounding  green  mangoes  with  mustard  seeds  and 
some  other  condiments.  Cspsicum  enters  in  to  the 
preparation  of  Giuippi,  also  a condiment  spebially 
liked  by  the  Burmese.  In  the  North-Western  Pro- 
vinces, where  spirits  are  largely  used  by  the  people 
of  the  lower  caste^,  pounded  Capsicum  is  mixed 
with  jaggery  and  water  to  form  a substitute  drink 
on  festive  occasions.  The  pungency  of  the  Capsi- 
cum and  the  sweetness  of  the  jaggery  combine  to 
produce  in  the  throat,  when  drunk,  an  imitation  of 
the  spirituous  drinks — a cheap  iiuitationi  no  doubt. 
It  is  much  used  by  the  poor  Malhahs,  Dhobis, 
Fassis,  Dharikavs,  etc.,  when  they  cannot  afford  the 
expensive  Mahua  Rum. 
Roxburgh  distinguishes  six  species  by  the  follow- 
ing characteristics : — 
a. — General  appearance  and  habit  of  the  plant, 
which  is  identical  in  them  all.  They  are  ail 
shrubby. 
h. — Peduncles  which  are  solitary  in  all  five,  except 
in  0.  minimum,  Roxb.,  which  has  peduiicles  in 
pairs. 
c. — Character  of  the  leaves  : C.  purpureum,  Roxb. 
has  ovate  lanceolate.  Such  is  also  the  case  with 
C.  annum,  Willd.  and  C.  frutescens,  Willd. ; those 
of  C.  grossum,  Willd.  being  ovate,  oblong,  and  of 
C.  minimum,  Roxb.  ovate-cordate. 
The  difference  in  the  shape  of  the  leaves  is  not 
a criterion. 
— As  to  the  fruits  or  berries : why,  this  also  is 
variable,  e and  d.  vary  under  climate  and  other 
conditions  specially  so  in  a cultivated  species. 
It  has  been  often  noticed  that  by  culti- 
vation, exclusive  of  selection,  the  fruits  and  leaves 
vary.  It  has  also  been  observed  that  seedlings  of 
one  species  may  approach  in  these  characters  to 
those  of  other  species.  Seedlings  of  the  Jack 
fruit  have  been  known  to  produce  serrated  leaves, 
reminding  one  of  its  ally  the  bread-fruit.  What  is 
called  the  ha fri marie,  and  w'hat  the  botanists  h ve 
named  Capsicum  grossum  by  climatic  iulluences 
have  been  seen  to  bear  round  berries  as  well  as 
long  pods.  The  garden  varieties  of  red,  orange,  purple, 
etc”  coloured  berries  of  ornamental  Capsicum,  may 
be  traced  to  the  C.  grossum  and  the  C.  minimum  to 
the  other  long-podded  Capsicums.  It  would  there- 
fore serve  the  cause  of  science  to  reduce  the  unstable 
species  to  one  which  may  have  some  permanent 
characteristics  to  distinguish  them  from  other  species 
of  the  same  genus.  The  Capsicum,  if  divided  under 
two  species.  No.  I and  No.  II.  would  serve  our 
purpose  for  all  ordinary  occasions.  The  horticul- 
turist had  better  look  to  the  result,  and  let  bota- 
nists be  content  with  really  stable  character. sties. 
The  Genus  Solanum  or  the  Night-shade  described 
in  Screb.  General  N.  337,  embraces  a much  larger 
number  of  species  of  much  more  diversified  charac- 
tenstics  than  the  Capsicum.  In  an  economic  point 
of  view,  tlie  foremost  in  the  genus  stands  the 
Potato.  Roxburgh  enumerates  IG  species  under  two 
sections,  the  unarmed  and  the  armed,  as  of  India, 
omitting  altogether  the  potato  which  he  neglected 
evidently  fancying  it  to  be  neither  indigenous  to 
the  country  nor  sufficiently  acclimatised  or  natura- 
lised here  as  to  justify  him  to  enumerate  it  under 
indigenous  solanaceoB.  In  dealing  with  other  intro- 
duced plants,  he  has  not  been  qutie  so  particular, 
such  as  in  the  case  of  tobacco  or  the  Carica 
Papaya,  etc,  etc,.,  both  of  which  freely  ripen  seeds 
and  see'dlings,  and  may  be  found  in  out-of-the-way 
places.  This  can  be  said  of  the  potato.  The  potato 
has  not  been  observed  anywhere  in  India  to  have 
grown  in  a wild  sta  e from  self  grown  seeds,  although 
it  bears  quite  freely  tomato-like  berries  which  ripen 
their  seeds  also.  It  would  be  an  observable  incident 
if  seedlings  of  potato  could  be  found  anywhere  in 
India  bearing  the  edible  tubers.  But  it  ought  to  be  said 
that  seedlings  from  sugarcane  have  not  been  seen 
growing  wild  and  producing  saccharine  canes.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  the  potato  dates  as  far  back  as 
the  tobacco,  and  perhaps  earlier  than  the  papayasi 
Perhaps  the  climate  and  the  soil,  at  least  of  the 
plains  of  India,  are  not  quite  so  well  suited  to  the 
potato  as  tboso  of  Peiu.  It  has  been  seen  to  grow 
wild,  being  also  originally  introduced  from  Chili- 
Nollowing  Roxburgh  below  are  given  names  of 
somo  of  tile  economic  Solauacere  which  are  indige- 
nous or  more  or  less  naturalised  in  India : — 
I.  Sec, 
1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
G. 
II.  Sec. 
Unarmed. 
Solanum  pubescens,  Willd.  sp.  I.  1026 
S.  auriculatum,  Willd.  sp.  I.  1025 
S.  lycopecscium,  Willd.  sp-  I.  1033 
S.  rubrum,  Willd.  sp.I.  1034 
S.  decemdentatum,  Roxb. 
S.  spirals,  Roxb. 
Armed. 
7.  . S.  Melongena,  Willd.  sp.  I.  1036 
8.  S.  longum,  Roxb. 
9.  S.  insanum,  Willd.  sp.  I.  1037 
10.  S.  asthiopicum,  Willd.  sp.  I.  1036 
11.  S.  diffusum,  Woxb- 
12.  S.  Jacquini,  Willd.  sp.  I.  1041 
13.  S.  indicum,  Willd.  sp.  1. 1042 
14.  S.  trilobatura,  Willd.  sp.  I.  1049 
15.  S.  hirsutum,  Roxb. 
16.  S.  stramonifolium,  Jacq. 
I.  1 and  2 are  suburbarcus. 
3,  4 and  5 are  annual. 
6 is  shrubby 
2 is  downy. 
and  5 is  hairy  all  through. 
The  arms  or  or  thorns,  hairs  or  downs,  it  must 
be  said,  are  not  bersistent  characters,  at  least  they 
do  not  reproduce  themselves  in  the  same  degree 
under  climatic  and  cultivating  influences.  Thorns 
have  been  seen  to  interchange  for  hairs  or  downs 
and  they  have  also  noticed  to  change  in  their  num- 
ber. size  and  hardness.  The  thorns  are  not  constant 
in  many  other  plants,  not  even  in  the  A3gle  Mar- 
raelos  (the  Bel-fruit),  or  the  Zizyphus  Jujuba 
( the  hog-plam ),  which  last  ia  notoriously  armed, 
but  specimens  perfectly  free  from  thorn  are  not 
altogether  impossible.  The  same  same  may  be 
said  of  certain  varieties  of  S.  Melongena  ( the  egg. 
plant)  wliich  have  l)een  seen  not  to  bear  any  downy 
substitute  of  the  thorn.  The  calyx  of  S.  longum 
of  Roxburgh  is  not  invariably  armed,  though  that 
distingniseed  author  has  based  his  species  on  this 
the  character  of  the  leaves  and  the  shape  of  the 
fruit.  He  says : — 
“ I consider  this  to  be  a species  distinct  from 
S.  Melongena,  for  the  fruit  is  always  cylindrical, 
never  changing  by  the  culture  into  any  other  form.’’ 
Roxburgh  no  doubt  was  misled  by  limiting  his 
observation  to  the  B ngal  cultivated  egg-plants.  In 
the  North-Western  Provinces,  however,  the  general 
shape  of  S.  Melongena  is  more  cylindrical  than  oval 
or  round.  The  same  may  be  said  of  S.  insanum. 
Foa  ordinary  purposes,  therdfore,  these  three  may 
bo  made  into  one  species,  leav.ng  the  gardener  to 
name  his  varieties. 
Neglecting  therefore  the  arms,  we  may  begin  with 
one  continued  list  of  16  indigenous  species  of  Sola- 
num, remembering,  however,  that  the  potato  counts 
beyond  this  number. 
1.  8.  pubescens  Willd. — This  is  the  same  as  S 
verbascifolium  of  Liunteus  and  S.  erianthum  of  Don’s 
Nepal  flora,  the  A?-as  of  the  native  Kavirajas  and 
the  Gandhira  of  the  Ranshrit  authors.  'This  grows 
all  over  India,  and  flowers  almost  the  whole” year 
round  ; the  berries  are  of  the  size  of  a cherry  and 
they  may  be  seen  all  though  tho  year.  The  bark 
and  the  leaves  are  immediately  used,  and  it'  ia 
said  the  berries  are  cooked  in  curries.  ’This  plant 
has  been  seen  in  favourable  places  to  obtaiii  the 
size  t-f  a small  tree.  It  may  be  distinguished  from 
the  next  by  the  colour  of  its  flowers,  which  are 
white,  while  S.  auriculatum  has  lively  bhte  purnle 
flowers.  ’ ^ i ® 
2.  S.  auriculatum,  Willd.— This  is  the  S.  mauri 
tiauum.  Sect,  Roxburgh  says : “ Independently  of 
the  colour  of  the  flowers,  the  stipulce  on  axfllarv 
leaves  render  the  species  readily  known ; iu  all 
other  respects  it  almost  exactly  resembles  the  nre 
ceding,  in  that  plant  there  are  no  stipultp  and  the 
flowers  are  white. 
