Bartholomew says: "The pepper is the seed or fruit of a tree or shrub which grows in the southern part of the Caucasus mountains, facing the burning heat of the sun, as Isidore says in book 17 [Etymologies 17.8]. Its leaves are similar to the juniper. Serpents guard the forests it grows in, but the inhabitants of the region where the forests grow naturally set fire to them, and the serpents flee the fire's violence, and from this burning the seeds of the pepper, which started out white, are accidentally turned black and wrinkled.
"There are three forms, as the same man says; there is the long pepper, namely when it is immature, and white pepper, namely when it is unchanged by the fire, and black pepper, namely when it is black and red on its surface from the scorching heat of the fire. Black pepper keeps its strength for a longer time than the others, and can be stored securely."
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