Re: [CH] Tabasco Plant

Brent Thompson (brent@hplbct.hpl.hp.com)
Tue, 22 Feb 2000 14:28:13 -0800 

> Anyone have any idea if this is indeed a Tabasco or possibly something
> else.

1) is there a photo of the fruits online?

2) check the attached key to determine for yourself whether your plant is
C. frutescens (hence could be Tabasco, a variety of C. frutescens) or is
not C. frutescens (in which case it could not possibly be Tabasco).

Remember that conditions indoors are usually such (e.g., lower light level,
less wind) that plants grow much lankier than they would outdoors.

 ---   Brent

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Keys for Field Identification of the Five Domesticated Species of Capsicum
	(Appendix II, page 2, Genetic Resources of Capsicum, International
	Board for Plant Genetic Resources, 1983
	[Crop Genetic Resources Centre, Plant Production and Protection
	Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations])

Key to the Domesticated Species of Capsicum


1. Seeds dark, corolla purple ................................... C. pubescens
 
1. Seeds straw-colored, corolla white or greenish-white .........      2
     (rarely purple)

   2. Corolla with diffuse yellow spots at bases of lobes ....... C. baccatum

   2. Corolla without diffuse yellow spots at bases of lobes ....      3

      3. Corolla purple .........................................      4

         4. Flowers solitary .................................... C. annuum

         4. Flowers 2-more at each node ......................... C. chinense

      3. Corolla white or greenish-white ........................      5

         5. Calyx of mature fruit with annular constriction at
            junction with pedicel ............................... C. chinense

         5. Calyx of mature fruit without annular constriction at
            junction with pedicel ...............................      6

            6. Flowers solitary .................................      7

               7. Corolla milky white, lobes usually straight,
                  pedicels often declining at anthesis .......... C. annuum

               7. Corolla greenish white, lobes usually slightly
                  revolute, pedicels erect at anthesis .......... C. frutescens

            6. Flowers 2-more at each node ......................      8

               8. Corolla milky white ........................... C. annuum

               8. Corolla greenish white ........................      9

                  9. Pedicels erect at anthesis, corolla lobes 
                     usually slightly revolute .................. C. frutescens

                  9. Pedicels declining at anthesis, corolla lobes 
                     straight ................................... C. chinense