GUINEA PEEPER. BUCK-THORN. 57 
durable sensation of heat on the palate, which is best 
removed by butter or oil. When taken in small quan- 
tity, cayenne pepper is a grateful stimulant ; and, in 
medicine it is used, both externally and internally, to 
promote the action of the bodily organs when languid 
or torpid; and it is said to be found efficacious in 
many gouty and paralytic cases. 
09. The GUINEA PEPPER, or ANNUAL CAPSI- 
CUM (Fig. 12), is a slender herbaceous plant, with smooth 
leaves, zchite flowers, single flower stalks, and smooth, shining 
fruit of oblong shape, and usually of red and yellow colour. 
This plant is a native both of the East and West 
Indies, and is considered the most hardy of the whole 
tribe of capsicum. In many parts of the South of 
Europe, itefruij is eaten green by the peasants at their 
breakfasts, and is preferred by them to onions or gar- 
lic. The fruit of all the species may be rendered useful 
in domestic economy, either as a pickle, or as cayenne 
pepper. For the latter, it may be dried before a fire, 
and ground to powder in a common pepper-mill. 
70. The BUCK-THORN (Rhzmnus czdvartlcus} is a spi- 
nous shrub, which grazes in thickets and hedges, ar$ has 
clusters of small green flowers, globular black berries, and 
somezchat oval leaves, serrated at the edge. 
About the month of September the berries of the 
buck-thorn begin to ripen ; and, if these are bruised 
when perfectly ripe, they yield a green tint. They 
are made into the sap-green which is used by painters 
in water-colours, by evaporating their juice to the con- 
sistence of a gum. From the juice of the unripe 
berries, mixed with alum, a yellow dye is obtained, 
which is employed by dyers, and also for staining maps 
or paper. If the fruit be gathered late in the autumn 
the juice is purple. The syrup of buck-thorn berries 
is sometimes used in dropsies and other complaints, 
though there are objections to it from its occasioning 
sickness and griping. The berries have a faint disa- 
greeable smell, and a nauseous bitter taste. It is not 
D 5 
