Cayenne

Capsicum annuum

Solanaceae

The slender red chili that taught Europe heat — a kitchen spice and a traditional circulation pungent.

Culinary chili. Capsaicin creams are topical drugs, not a tea. Keep powder from eyes and children.

Parts used: Ripe fruit, fresh or dried
Traditional notes: Kitchen heat · After a cold meal · Traditional topical for sore muscle
Grow · USDA 6b: Tender annual. Frost kills it. Start indoors 8 weeks before last frost. In work: May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep
Harvest: When fully red and thin-walled. Dry for the winter tin.

Gloves for a big harvest.
Dry until they snap. A soft chili molds.

Safety

Open wounds Active ulcer in medicinal internal amounts Eyes

Companions

Plant with Eggplant, Okra, Sweet basil, Thyme.

Lore

Capsicum is a New World plant that Columbus, looking for Piper, misnamed pepper and never corrected. Cayenne is a river in Guiana and then a color. Hungarian paprika, Italian peperoncino, and this red dust are cousins arguing about heat. The Scoville scale is a 1912 tasting panel, not a law of nature.

The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.