Capsicum annuum: Pepper

Capsicum annuum-A small pepper plant usually an annual or commonly known as a pepper plant.

In Haiti the leaves are commonly used to aid inflammation and boils of the skin. The leaves should be applied for three minutes on the skin but taken away when reddening of the skin appears (although this is a normal reaction).

The chemical breakdown of the leaves contain clorogenic acid, flavonoids, alkaloids, cartenoides, and Vitamin C. The plant contains the following nutrients: 9.5%; proteins: 14.8%; greases: 13%; carbohydrates: 55.7%; fibers: 20.9%; ashen: 7%; mineral: calcium: 177 mg; match: 345 mg; iron: 23,6 mg. sodium: 34 mg; potassium: 2344 mg; caroteno: 36362 µg; thiamine: 0,64 mg; riboflavin: 1,74 mg; niacina: 15,32 mg; ascorbic acid: 71 mg.

A study conducted with 50 adults aged 30 and over in Haiti indicates that when the plant does bear the fruit or pepper it aids in digestion and flatulence of adults by 35%.
The pepper plant is native to Mexico and works well in hot and temperate climates and it spread rapidly throughout the rest of the world. Now as the Caribbean was part of European colonization it is an educated guess that this was part of the cash crops such as sugarcane and beet that were led to be cultivated on the islands. Therefore this plant could have been another medicinal lesson that Macandal would have explored thoroughly, “[He gathered] solitary bushes with furry leaves that sweated at night; sensitive plants that closed at the mere sound of the human voice” (18).