336 
Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. 
Berries tapering, much longer than broad : — 
Fruit stout, flesh thick, usually mildly pungent ; calyx not 
enclosing base of berry .. .. ..1. C. annuum. 
Fruit slender, flesh thin, keenly pungent; calyx enclosing (annuum, 
base of berry . . . . . . . . ( vab. acuminata. 
Berries not much if at all longer than broad, usually obtuse ; 
calyx not enclosing base of berry : — 
Berries circular in section, sub-conical, ovate or oblong, J annuum, 
flesh thin, pungent .. .. .. . . ( var. abbreviata. 
Berries swollen, irregularly angled in section, prismatic, f annuum, 
quadrate or oblate, flesh very thick, hardly at all pungent | vab. grossa. 
Fruit globular, extremely pungent .. .. (annuum, 
1 vab. cerasiformis. 
Flowers purple ; berries at first dark-purple, afterwards becoming 
orange-red, much longer than broad, only slightly pungent ; calyx | annuum, 
hardly enclosing base of berry . . . . . . j vab. nigra. 
Pedicels 2 or more, erect ; fruit always erect, red, shorter than the 
pedicels, pungent ; plants perennial ; flowers always white or 
yellowish- white : — 
Berries elongated, tapering ; base embraced by the calyx . . 2. C. frutescens. 
Berries globose or sub-globose ; base seated on the calyx . . (f nltescens i 
(vab. baccata. 
1. Capsicum annuum, Linn. Sp. PI. 188. An erect branching or 
rarely simple robust herb 2 to 3 feet high, with slightly ridged branches; 
glabrous throughout. Leaves membranous, elliptic or ovate, rather 
long-acuminate, base long-cuneate, prolonged as a wing on upper 
part of petiole, margin entire ; lamina 3 in. long, -75 to 1 in. wide, 
rarely 1-5 in. wide, green on both surfaces ; petiole -25 to -6 in. long. 
Flowers white or rarely (var. nigra ) purple ; pedicels almost always 
solitary, though casually there may be more than one in a leaf-axil, 
always drooping in flower, in fruit rigid, slightly thickened under the 
enlarging calyx and variously erect, or spreading or recurved and 
pendent, then -75 to 1 in. long. Calyx glabrous, campanulate, with 
sinuate-dentate limb, -2 in. across ; in fruit enlarging into a shallow cup 
embracing the lower part of fruit, or saucer-shaped with the base of the 
fruit resting on it, then often -5 in. across. Corolla rotate, - 4 in. 
across ; 5-lobed. Ovary glabrous. Fruit erect, straight, very variable 
in shape, colour, fleshiness and pungency. Irish Miss. Bot. Gard Rep 
IX. 65. 
Var. typica. Fruit much longer than broad, stout, tapering to the 
usually narrow apex ; flesh thick, mildly pungent ; berry resting on 
the saucer-shaped fruiting calyx ; colour variable. 
In gardens, occasionally, usually raised from seed imported from 
Europe. 
This variety includes the many mild chillies which do not keep true to their 
characters when their seed is collected in the tropics. 
