Capsicum chinense Jacq.

Small, short lived shrub to 1.5 m tall, glabrate or puberulent. Flowers mostly 2-5 per node; pedicels recurving and becoming thick in fruit; calyx with a pronounced constriction between the base of the calyx and pedicel, teeth mostly absent; corolla dull white or somewhat greenish; the lobes spreading to recurved; anthers blue to violet, rarely yellow; the stigma not exserted from the anthers more than 1 mm. Fruit pendant, persistent, variously shaped, but often with longitudinal furrows, the fruit wall fleshy, ripening brown, red, orange, pink, yellow or almost white; seeds cream to yellow.

A tropical plant. In the Andes it grows from sea level to 1,600 m above sea level. It suits hardiness zones 10-12. They need a temperature above 4-13°C depending on cultivar. At ECHO, Florida.

The very hot fruit are used as a spice. It is used in stews and sauces.

Can be grown by seedlings.