Capsicum annuum is a species of the plant genus Capsicum native to southern North America, the Caribbean, and northern South America. This species is the most common and extensively cultivated of the five domesticated capsicums. The species encompasses a wide variety of shapes and sizes of peppers, including sweet bell peppers and some chili pepper varieties such as jalapeños, New Mexico chile, and cayenne peppers, all of which are nightshades. Cultivars descended from the wild American bird pepper are still found in warmer regions of the Americas. In the past, some woody forms of this species have been called C. frutescens, but the features that were used to distinguish those forms appear in many populations of C. annuum and are not consistently recognizable features in C. frutescens species.
Characteristics
Capsicum annuum is a herb or small shrub growing to a height between 0.3 to 1.2 metres (1–4 feet) and a width of 15 to 30 cm (6–12 inches). It has roughly oval glossy leaves with smooth margins reaching up to 7.5 cm (3 inches) in length. In some cultivars leaves turn dark purple or black.
Flowers are star or bell-shaped with 4–5 petals which can be white, green, or purple in colour. Its fruit is a true berry coming in a variety of shapes, sizes, pungency, and sweetness. Depending on cultivar, fruit may be green, red, yellow, orange, or black, with many changing colour as they mature.
Pollination
While generally self-pollinating, insect visitation is known to increase the fruit size and speed of ripening, as well as to ensure symmetrical development. Pepper flowers have nectaries at the base of the corolla, which helps to attract pollinators. The anthers do not release pollen except via buzz pollination, such as provided by bumble bees.
Name
The genus name Capsicum derives from a Greek-based derivative of the Latin word ‘kapto’, meaning ‘to bite’, in reference to the heat or pungency of the species’ fruit, although it has also been speculated to derive from the Latin word ‘capsa’, a box, referring to the shape of the fruit in forms of the typical species. Although the species name annuum means 'annual' (from the Latin annus "year"), the plant is not an annual but is frost tender. In the absence of winter frosts it can survive several seasons and grow into a large, shrubby perennial herb.
Common names including the word "pepper" stem from a misconception on the part of Europeans taking part in the Columbian exchange. They mistakingly thought the spicy fruits were a variety of the black pepper plant which also has spicy fruit. However, these two plants are not closely related.
Commonly used names for the fruit of Capsicum annuum in English varies by location and cultivar. The larger, sweeter cultivars are called "capsicum" in Australia and New Zealand. In Great Britain and Ireland cultivars of the plant are typically discussed in groups of either “sweet” or “hot/chilli” peppers, only rarely providing the specific cultivar. In Canada or the US it is commonplace to provide the cultivar in most instances, for example "bell", "jalapeño", "cayenne", or "bird's eye" peppers, to convey differences in taste including sweetness or pungency.
Domestication
In 2014, based on linguistic, ecological, archaeological and genetic evidence, scientists traced origins of chili pepper (Capsicum annuum) to central-east Mexico. This domestication was dated to more than 6,500 years ago (4,500 BC).
While the genetic evidence seems to point to northeastern Mexico as the area of domestication, evidence from some other related lines of study rather supports the central-east region of Mexico as the domestication centre. This is the area extending from the southern part of Puebla state of Mexico, to northern Oaxaca state, and to southeastern Veracruz state.
Uses
Culinary
The species is a source of popular sweet peppers and hot chilis with numerous varieties cultivated all around the world, and is the source of popular spices such as cayenne, chili, and paprika powders, as well as pimiento (pimento).
Capsinoid chemicals provide the distinctive tastes in C. annuum variants. In particular, capsaicin creates a burning sensation ("hotness"), which in extreme cases can last for several hours after ingestion. A measurement called the Scoville scale has been created to describe the hotness of peppers and other foods.
Traditional medicine
Hot peppers are used in traditional medicine as well as food in Africa. English botanist John Lindley described C. annuum in his 1838 Flora Medica thus: