PEPPER n.
The plant which yields pepper, an East Indian woody climber (Piper nigrum), with ovate leaves and apetalous flowers in spikes opposite the leaves. The berries are red when ripe. Also, by extension, any one of the several hundred species of the genus Piper, widely dispersed throughout the tropical and subtropical region…
POISON n.
rica. It is common on stone walls and on the trunks of trees, and has trifoliate, rhombic-ovate, variously notched leaves. Many people are poisoned by it, if they touch the leaves. See Poison sumac. Called also poison oak, and mercury. -- Poison nut. (Bot.) (a) Nux vomica. (b) The tree which yields this seed (Strychno…
PURSLANE n.
An annual plant (Portulaca oleracea), with fleshy, succulent, obovate leaves, sometimes used as a pot herb and for salads, garnishing, and pickling. Flowering purslane, or Great flowered purslane, the Portulaca grandiflora. See Portulaca. -- Purslane tree, a South African shrub (Portulacaria Afra) with many small oppo…
SESAME n.
ndicum, and S. orientale), from the seeds of which an oil is expressed; also, the small obovate, flattish seeds of these plants, sometimes used as food. See Benne. Open Sesame, the magical command which opened the door of the robber's den in the Arabian Nights' tale of "The Forty Thieves;" hence, a magical password. -…