Greetings- I believe it's been mentioned here before, but chili pungency ['heat'] varies widely depending on the plant's growth history. Although it's not stric tly true, a stressed plant is likely to produce 'hotter' fruits than one that has been totally 'happy'. The 3rd or 4th year I grew Jalapenos I produced a crop from saved seed that was as mild as bell peppers & I was sure that these were seeds from inadvertent 'crosses' with bells. Thinking that I had a mild Jal that some of my tender-palate friends would like I saved these seed---and guess what? They produced a batch that was as hot as any I've grown! Later on I learned [from Jean Andrews' book, I think] about the stress-variability. On poisonous fruits: as several have mentioned, ALL capsicums are edib le, though some may not be as tasty as others. However there's at least one ornamental plant---a nightshade [solanaceae] variety---that IS poisonous. It looks a bit like a chile [capsicums are members of the nightshade family] and is often sold in pots, sometimes as a 'Christmas' or 'Jerusalem' pepper. The fruits are marble-size [10-12 mm diameter], perfectly round, and are usually orange-red as they ripen. The foliage is darker green than that of most chili plants. If you pop a fruit between your fingers the smell tells you [or tells me, anyway!] that it's not a pepper: it has a 'green', tomatoe-y odor. Also, the fruit is 'juicy'---the seeds are surrounded by a watery pulp whereas chili seeds are not. I've not seen any of these recently except in specialty plant catalogs. But it should be watched for. Gene Dunnam Gator Slide Farm Micanopy, FL