Re: [CH] Chili Up!
Cameron Begg (begg.4@osu.edu)
Wed, 09 Sep 1998 08:33:49 -0500
Dear C-H's,
Sorry to labor the point but we are running into confusion. Let me make a
few comments which should clear this up.
Living things are classified according to a certain well established
system. Our beloved chile peppers are part af a large group or Family
called "Solanaceae". They are closely related to other plants in this group
such as tomatoes, potatoes, aubergines and others. The group or Genus of
plants which includes all the chile peppers is called "Capsicum". Within
this Genus are further subgroups called Species. There are more than 20
species of peppers that have been discovered so far, and doubtless others
that have not. Examples of different species are "annuum" (most of the
common peppers found in grocery stores in the US and Europe), "baccatum"
(often called ajis in S. America), "chinense" (includes habaneros) and
"frutescens" (includes the tabascos of hot sauce fame. Incidentally those
have erect pods.).
Plants tend to cross (reproduce) most easily with their nearest neighbors
in this lineage. Therefore crosses within a species are common and crosses
between different species are less common, although not impossible. It is
clear from what we know about Capsicum annuum for example, that a great
deal of diversity can exist even within a single species. New Mex. long
greens, jalapenos, cayennes and chiltepins (the tiny upward pointing or
"erect" bird peppers) are all in this species. These are called different
"varieties" of peppers within a species by mere amateurs like me, and
"cultivars" by the expert botanists who may further categorise them
according to some other characteristic like pod type.
Aside: Those little upward pointing devils I mentioned are thought to be
the closest relatives to the original peppers which once existed only in a
small part of central S. America. Their upright habit was an advertisment
to birds that food was ready, and the birds distributed the seed, which
passes right through their digestive tracts, in a blob of guana fertiliser.
The capasaicins do not effect birds. Mammals were not the preferred vector,
and this may be why peppers are hot - to put them off. (That worked real
well huh?)
Back to where we started:
I wrote back to Michael Bailes <frgntgar@ozemail.com.au>:
> A couple of hybrid varieties? With the possible exception of
> pubescens I cannot think of a species of C. which does not
> have varieties with the errect fruiting habit.
He replied:
>> Cameron. No I wouldn't agree Cameron of the 200+
>> varietes we grew last year very few had upright growing pods.
>> (Pods growin up, above, on top and clear of the bush)
Peter Moss explained that I was talking about species not varieties, but
Micheal seemed to miss the point. I hope I have made it clearer. Micheal
could have grown 200+ varieties of one species easily. In fact I would
guess that he could have grown 200+ varites of C. annuum which bore pods
with an upright or erect habit if he had chosen to do so.
Regards, Cameron.