Cayenne

Cayenne, 1 commercial product derived from Capsicum a genus of plants belonging to the Night-shade fami]y, and has no relation to the family which furnishes the real pepper. Cayenne pepper is derived from four species, viz.: C. annuum, 0. frutescans, O. cerasiforme, C. Groisum. The first two only are of importance. The first is an annual herbaceous plant, a native of tropical countries, growing in very poor soil, and cultivated in most parts of the world. It grows two or three feet high, and bears a pod of a conical form, recurved at the end, green when immature, but bright scarlet or orange when it ripens. It is used in the green state for pickling, and in medicine when ripe, dried, and ground into powder to make cayenne pepper. In England, the dried berries kept in the shops are called chillies. This variety is imported from the West Indies, as well as raised in our own gardens. C. Frutescans furnishes the so called bird or guinea pepper, a hotter and more pungent, as well as a better flavored variety. The plant is a shrub, with berries scarcely an inch long and quite narrow. The berries are used in maldng pepper vinegar, or pepper sauce. In Mexico and other warm countries of this continent, the red pepper is almost one of the necessaries of life. The common people living mostly upon vegetable food, use this stimulant freely, and it forms an accompaniment to every meal. The cayenne of commerce is shamefully adulterated. Red lead and vermilion, or sulphuret of mercury, are the worst materials introduced, both being deadly poisons, and having the property of aggregating in the system, when taken in small quantities. They are added to keep up the color, and also to increase the weight. Ochres are employed for similar purposes; salt also to improve the color, and add to the weight. Ground rice and turmeric are more harmless additions. The popular varieties of pepper, cultivated in our gardens, are the Bull Nose, an early variety of mild flavor, and used in the crude state, and for pickling; the Squash pepper, the sort most generally grown; Sweet mountain, large and of mild flavor, and used to make stuffed pickles.
Source: What the Grocers Sell Us ™1880