The Martinican market of Saint-François is full of colorful peppers. The West Indian pepper is one of five varieties of peppers with over 1,200 species worldwide. Originally from South America, where it accompanied all the dishes of the Indians who also used it in juice against ophthalmia and in poultices on wounds, it is part of the Capsicum chinense variety. Introduced around 1543 as a condiment in Europe, it was then established in the West Indies. The vegetarian pepper or sweet pepper is distinguished from the West Indian pepper or habanero pepper by its much more elongated shape and by a much lower strength on the Scoville scale that classifies peppers from 100-500 to more than 100,000 according to their capsaicin content.