w-conical, with a smooth
or wrinkled coat, and white, yellow, red or black in colour. The
principal source of cayenne pepper is _C. frutescens_, the spur or goat
pepper, a dwarf shrub, a native of South America, but commonly
cultivated in the East Indies. It produces a small, narrow, bright red
pod, having very pungent properties. _C. tetragonum_, or bonnet pepper,
is a species much esteemed in Jamaica; it bears very fleshy fruits.
Other well-known kinds of capsicum are the cherry pepper (_C.
cerasiforme_), with small berries; bell pepper (_C. grossum_), which has
thick and pulpy fruit, well adapted for pickling; and berry or bird
pepper (_C. baccatum_). The last mentioned has been grown in England
since 1731; its fruit is globular, and about the size of a cherry. The
West Indian stomachic _man-dram_ is prepared by mashing a few pods of
bird pepper and mixing them with sliced cucumber and shallots, to which
have been added a little lime-juice and Madeira wine. Chillies, the
dried ripe or unripe fruit of capsicums, especially _C. annuum_ and _C.
frutescens_, are used to make chilly-vinegar, as well as for pickles.
Cayenne pepper is manufactured from the ripe fruits, which are dried,
ground, mixed with wheat flour, and made into cakes with yeast; the
cakes are baked till hard like biscuit, and then ground and sifted. The
pepper is sometimes prepared by simply drying the pods and pounding them
fine in a mortar. Cayenne pepper is occasionally adulterated with red
lead, vermilion, ochre, salt, ground-rice and turmeric. The taste of the
pepper is impaired by exposure to damp and the heat of the sun. Chillies
have been in use from time immemorial; they are eaten in great quantity
by the people of Guiana and other warm countries, and in Europe are
largely consumed both as a spice and as medicine.

The dried ripe fruit of _Capsicum frutescens_ from Zanzibar, known as
pod pepper and Guinea pepper, is official in the British Pharmacopoeia
under the name _Capsici Fructus_. The fruit has a characteristic,
pungent odour and an intensely bitter taste. The chief constituents are
a crystallizable resin, capsaicin, a volatile alkaloid, capsicine and a
volatile oil. The dose is 1/2-1 grain. The British Pharmacopoeia
contains two preparations of capsicum, a tincture (dose 5-15 minims) and
an ointment. Externally the drug has the usual action of a volatile oil,
being a very powerful counter-irritant. It does not, however, cause
pustulation.