Chilli pepper (Capsicum frutescens)
Original title: Pimenteira (Capsicum frutescens)
The chilli pepper shrub, of American origin and widely grown in Madeira as a spice; the entry also notes the malagueta (Capsicum baccatum) and imported black pepper.
A shrub of the family Solanaceae, apparently native to America and widely cultivated in Madeira. Its red fruits, ovate-oblong or ovate-conical, are pungent and are used as a seasoning in cooking. Capsicum baccatum, with small, globular fruits, appears in some kitchen gardens in Funchal and is known on the island as malagueta. The round black seeds that Madeirans call pimenta de fora (‘foreign pepper’) come from Piper migrum, a climbing shrub of the family Piperaceae, unknown in Madeira but common in India, China, Java, Borneo, etc.