Dried ripe fruits of

Capsicum annuum
Solanaceae
Known as chillies
Perennial but grown as annual
Varieties
Sierra Leone
Nyasaland
Zanzibar
 Cultivation & Collection
 Perennial but grown as as an annual
 Seeds sown at successive intervals
to provide fruits throughout the year
 Collected when fruits just begin to
change color
 Dried in sun
 Description

 Shape Ovoid conical pod

Sometimes with calyx &
pedicel attached
Calyx cup shaped & has 5 teeth
 Pericarp Glabrous , shrunken
Orange red in color
Divided by a membranous longitudinal
disssepiment into two loculi with axile
placentation
 Description
 Seeds Disc shaped
Slightly pointed at proximal end
where hilum & micropyle are
situated
 Testa Pale buff colored
 Kernel Consists of abundant oily
endosperm in which narrow coiled
embryo embedded
 Characteristic odor
 Fiery pungent taste
 Microscopy
 Pericarp Outer epidermis sub rectangular cells
In 5 – 6 rows & Cuticularised
 Mesocarp Parenchymatous
Contain yellowish oily droplets
Yellowish red chromatophores
Occassionally sandy calcium oxalate crystals
Small V.B towards inner region
 Thin layer of very large cells
 Endocarp cells with wavy walls
Beneath most of the cells of large celled layer
epidermal cells moderately thickened , pitted ,
& lignified forming island of sclerenchyma
(one island under each large cell )
 Dissepiment
 Thin walled parenchyma
 Each epidermal cell is developed as a
secreting epithelium having thin walled
polygonal tubular cells with prominent
nucleus
 Epidermal cuticle raised in bladdery
patches below which oily droplets of
crystalline capsaicin occur
 Seeds

 Lignified thickened epidermis

 Endosperm
 Constituents

 Pungent principle Capsaicin

 Ascorbic acid
 Thiamine
 Red carotenoids Capsanthin &
Capsorubicin
 Traces of starch in seeds
 Uses
 Externally stimulant &
counter irritant
 Internally pungent stomachic ,
carminative , stimulant
 To dispel flatulence
 To increase appetite
 Source of Vitamin C
 Nerve stimulant
 Increase capillarity of blood vessels
 In rheumatoid arthritis