English common name is chili pepper fruit from mother plant Capsicum anuum
Contains capsaicinoids (up to 1.5%), consisting of about 70% capsaicin, 20–30% 6,7-dihydrocapsaicin, 7% norhydrocapsaicin, 2% homodihydrocapsaicin, and 2% homocapsaicin. Also contains carotenoids (capsanthin, capsorubin, beta-carotene), essential oil, and about 0.4% vitamin C.
Used for relief of muscle pain such as lower back pain (capsaicin is a TRPV1 receptor agonist; activation of cutaneous nociceptors followed by desensitization). Applied until pain relief is achieved, for a maximum of 3 weeks, after which a 2-week break is necessary.
The drug is a yellowish-orange to reddish-brown dried ripe fruit, conical along its length, with a blunt apex, 1–3 cm long, about 1 cm wide at the broadest part. Sometimes the five-lobed calyx and a straight stalk are attached. The pericarp is wrinkled and glabrous, enclosing 10–20 flat, kidney-shaped seeds about 3–4 mm long, either free or attached to a reddish partition.
The drug is listed in the pharmacopoeia.
In pulverized drug under the microscope we can see:
The pericarp contains red oil droplets
The epicarp consists of rows of square cells with thick walls and striated cuticle
The mesocarp contains red oil droplets and crystals of oxalate
The endocarp is formed by elongated, irregularly thickened sclerenchymatous cells
The seed coat consists of greenish-yellow sclereids with U-shaped wavy walls
