Acuminatum (C. chilense), herbaceous, very branchy, about two and one-half feet high, becoming a dense mass of foliage; flowers, medium size, spreading one-half to three-fourths inch; fruit, larger than C. fasciculatum.
C. cerasiforme has leaves medium ovate, oblong, acuminate, about one and one-fourth to three and one-half inches long; calyx seated on base of fruit; corolla, large and spreading seven-eighths to one and one-half inches; fruit, one-half to one-eighth inch thick, spherical, subcordate, oblate or occasionally obscurely pointed, or slightly elongated, smooth, or, rarely, minutely rugose or sulcate; extremely pungent, and cherry yellow.
Tetragomum, or bonnet pepper, is a species much esteemed in Guiana, which bears very large, handsome, fleshy fruit, two colors, scarlet and golden yellow; and C. frutescens (spur or goat pepper) has been growing in the English gardens since 1856, is said to yield most of the Cayenne pepper which comes from the West Indies and South America; largely used in salads.
A kind called tobacco pepper is said to possess the most pungent properties of any of the species. It yields a small red pod generally less than an inch in length, and is longitudinal in shape, mostly borne above the leaves, and is so exceedingly hot that a small quantity of it is sufficient to season a large dish of any food.
Owing to its oleaginous character it has been found impossible to preserve it by drying, but by pouring strong boiling vinegar on it a sauce or decoction can be made which will possess in a concentrated form all the essential qualities of the vegetable, a single drop being enough to flavor a whole plate of soup or food.
The chilli plant is the Lat-tsiao of Cochin Chinese. It is constantly found in its wild state in the eastern islands. These varieties are enumerated by botanists; their fruits differ in degrees of pungency. All capsicum is a low grade of Cayenne. It requires but the simplest culture, and cultivation appears to increase the size of the fruit, but it diminishes its pungency.
Several varieties of C. annuum have little or no pungency. One of these is abundantly grown in Austria-Hungary, from which we obtain Paprika of the Magyars. Another kind is imported into this country from Spain in a powder for feeding birds to improve the colors of their feathers and to make them sing.
There are growing in the botanical gardens of Calcutta six species of capsicum, viz, annuum, grossum, frutescens, baccatum, purpureum, and minimum. The grossum in Hindoostan is called “Kaffrie Murich” and of the frutescens there are two varieties, the red and the yellow, called by the Bengalese “lall-lunka,” “Murich” and “huldi-lunka” Murich. The Cyngalese name for frutescens is Casnairis. There is said to be a black pod as well as a red and yellow known on the Island of Ceylon.
The consumption of chillies in India is immense, as they are used by both rich and poor and constitute the principal seasoning for the poor in their rice. The natives of the West Indies, Africa, and Mexico use them very extensively.
West India stomachic man-drum is prepared by washing a few pods of bird’s pepper and mixing them with sliced cucumber and shallots, to which add a little lime juice or Madeira wine.