4 BULLETIN" 43, U. S. DEPAETMEXT OF AGRICULTURE. 
The two opinions quoted seem to establish the legal status of Amer- 
ican-grown paprika. 
BOTANICAL ORIGIN OF PAPRIKA. 
The form of pepper chiefly concerned in this paper is one of the 
many forms of the almost universally distributed Capsicum annuum 
L. (Fig. 1.) In field cultures it exhibits more or less variation, but 
the most frequent and most desirable form corresponds to the follow- 
ing description : 
Plants about 2 feet high, obpyramidal in form. Stems dichotomously 
branched, angled, subsuleate, glabrous except for slight pubescence on the angles 
and at the nodes, longitu- 
dinally striate 'with green 
and whitish green. Leaves 
ovate, acute, tapering at 
the base to a petiole about 
half as long as the blade, 
glabrous on both sides, 
dark green above, lighter 
beneath. Flowers solitary 
in the dichotomies, flower- 
ing successively from the 
lowest upward, through- 
out the season. Fruits on 
nodding peduncles, typi- 
cally 3i to 4 inches long, 
1 to li inches broad at the 
truncate base, the shoul- 
der of which extends be- 
yond the persistent calyx, 
tapering gradually to the 
acute, obtusish, or mi- 
nutely retuse apex; sur- 
face smooth, slightly 
marked by longitudinal de- 
pressions, which indicate 
the position of the two 
(or more) parietal pla- 
FlG. 1. 
-A paprika pepper plant in bearing. Height, about 
20 inches. 
centre. Placentae, meeting in the axis in the basal third of the fruit and at the 
extreme apex, not in contact elsewhere. Seeds compressed, broadly oval to 
suborbicular. 
It is probable that this type is of mixed origin, since a small propor- 
tion of shorter, more rounded, and inflated fruits occur, showing three 
or four rounded protuberances at the end of the pods. Occasionally 
a fruit occurs having almost the "bullnose " form. (Fig. 2.) 
CHARACTERISTICS OF AMERICAN PAPRIKA. 
The word " paprika," as it has entered into commercial use in the 
United States, refers to a variety of products. It is probable that the 
name was originally applied to the Hungarian type to which the 
