[CH] Re: vertical chiles (was: World's hottest pepper--not the Red Savina?)
Brent Thompson (brent@hplbct.hpl.hp.com)
Thu, 09 Jan 2003 17:03:25 -0800
> > From looking at the
> > pictures it would not seem even to be located in the cultivar
> > Chinense. I've never seen a habanero or scotch bonnet that
> > set it's fruit vertically.
>
> Not taking sides here, but Wild Brazilian (aka Cumari) is from the
> Chinense species, and it sets its fruit vertically. I've also grown
> Bode (another chile from Brazil with small pods) set has erect ...
Yes, numerous varieties of Capsicum chinense have fruits which are erect
even when fully mature. In general, C. chinense, C. frutescens, and C.
baccatum start out with erect flowers, but as the fruits mature, as
expected they necessarily bend over and become pendant if the fruits of
that variety are large and heavy (and thereby become too heavy to remain
erect on stems only the thickness and strength of chile fruit stems).
> In fact, I can't think of any small-podded chile that doesn't have erect
> fruit.
Careful here, lest we overgeneralize. For instance, C. eximium and C.
cardenasii both produce small fruits (darn!, for the latter) and both are
pendant at maturity -- it's just the way they are, not a weight/gravity
thing. But among the 5 domesticated Capsicum species, I agree -- I also
cannot recall offhand a cultivar which has small fruits that are not erect
at maturity.
--- Brent