Capsicum annuum is a species of the plant genus Capsicum (peppers) native to southern North America 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, both mild and hot, such as bell peppers, jalapeños, and cayenne peppers. Cultivars are descended from the wild American bird pepper 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 it is not a consistently recognizable feature in C. frutescens species. Moreover, crosses between C. annuum and C. frutescens aren't likely because seeds obtained from pollination between those two species (if the embryo survives) will not germinate.
Video Capsicum annuum
Characteristics
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. The single flowers are an off-white (sometimes purplish) color while the stem is densely branched and up to 60 cm (24 in) tall. The fruit are berries that may be green, yellow, orange or red when ripe. While the species can tolerate most frost-fee climates, C. annuum is especially productive in warm and dry climates.
Maps Capsicum annuum
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.
Common naming in English falls generally in line with the flavor and size of the variant. Larger, sweeter variants are called "capsicums" in Australia and New Zealand and red or green peppers, or "bell peppers" in the United States and Great Britain. The smaller, hotter varieties are called chillis, chilies, chile, or chili peppers, or in parts of the US, 'peppers'.
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.
Medicinal
Hot peppers are used in medicine as well as food in Africa and other places around the world.
English botanist John Lindley described C. annuum on page 509 of his 1838 'Flora Medica' thus:
In ayurvedic medicine, C. annuum is classified as follows:
- Gunna (properties) - ruksh (dry), laghu (light) and tikshan (sharp)
- Rasa dhatu (taste) - katu (pungent)
- Virya (potency) - ushan (hot)
Ornamental
Some cultivars grown specifically for their aesthetic value include the U.S. National Arboretum's Black Pearl and the Bolivian Rainbow. Ornamental varieties tend to have unusually colored fruit and foliage with colors such as black and purple being notable. All are edible, and most (like Royal Black) are hot.
Host plant
The potato tuber moth (Phthorimaea operculella) is an oligophagous insect that prefers to feed on plants of the family Solanaceae such as bell pepper plants. Female P. operculella use the leaves to lay their eggs and the hatched larvae will eat away at the mesophyll of the leaf.
Gallery
See also
- List of Capsicum cultivars
- Paprika
- Chili pepper
References
Further reading
Malgorzata, Materska (March 2015). "Flavone C-glycosides from Capsicum annuum L.: relationships between antioxidant activity and lipophilicity". 240 (3): 549-557. doi:10.1007/s00217-014-2353-2. Arimboor, Ranjith; Natarajan, Ramesh Babu; Menon, K. Ramakrishna; Chandrasekhar, Lekshmi. P; Moorkoth, Vidya (March 2015). "Red pepper (Capsicum annuum) carotenoids as a source of natural food colors: analysis and stability-a review". Journal of Food Science and Technology. 52 (3): 1258-1271. doi:10.1007/s13197-014-1260-7.
External links
Source of article : Wikipedia
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