Re: [CH] C. cardenasii

Brent Thompson (brent@hplbct.hpl.hp.com)
Tue, 28 Mar 2000 09:18:48 -0800 

> > I've just received a few seeds from a friend in Bolivia. He says they are
> > Ulupica (C. cardenasii). My question how to best care for these to
> maximize
> > germination.  Any advice?
> 
> I also ordered some seeds called Ulupica.  The person that sent them to me,
> said
> that they are difficult to germinate, and that bottom heat and nicking the
> seed coat
> helps.  After about 3 weeks only a couple (out of 9) have come up.  I used
> the
> bleach-soak method and bottom heat.

Over the years, I have grown many (40? 60?) C. cardenasii plants, and for
me, they have always sprouted in the normal timeframe as any other chile
(i.e. 5-14 days), after getting same treatment other chiles like, namely,
moist soil at ~80 degrees F., bright light, seed covered only 1/8", etc.
But, exactly like all other species of Capsicum, older or otherwise
weakened/mistreated seeds could take much much longer to sprout than I've
mentioned above, but of course I have no way of predicting whether your
particular seeds are damaged or if so, how much.

> Can someone verify that Ulupica is really C. cardenasii?  My seeds came
> still in
> in the pods.  The pods are red and about the size of a BB (maybe 2-4 mm),
> each having about 1-3 seeds.

I have seen fruits of two completely different accessions of C. cardenasii,
and both look as you have described (though they do often contain more than
3 seeds -- seems amazing more could be crammed into that tiny space,
doesn't it, but they can).

I think 'ulupica' might also sometimes be used for fruits of C. eximium,
but C. eximium fruits look a little different from cardenasii (the single
accession of C. eximium I have seen, anyway); the fruits of C. eximium are
a little pointy, ever so slightly, instead of being a (sometimes slightly
flattened) sphere ('BB' really is quite apt), and the color is slightly
deeper red without the orange tone of C. cardenasii.  The flowers of
cardenasii and eximium are quite different, too:

cardenasii = campanulate, lavender/violet/purple corolla, light-colored
             corolla spots
eximium    = "normal" chile-flower shape,purple corolla, green corolla
             spots (the most beautiful Capsicum flower, IMHO), fruit does

Unfortunately, unlike C. cardenasii, the fruits of C. eximium do not taste
wonderful (though I keep hoping I'll someday get a selection which does).

Be sure to keep at least two different seedlings of C. cardenasii near each
other, since many (though not all) selections of C. cardenasii are
self-incompatible.

 ---   Brent