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biology questions

Celeste

Celeste

I was raised to use the Latin names...but I dont know so much botany. I see references to annuums and chinenses, so I am assuming these are the two Genera of chilies that are commonly grown. tell me the differences please, or at least whose what? or link me to a tutorial, I love studying stuff!

Thanks for your patience with this excitable newbie!
 
Annuum and chinense are different species in the genus Capsicum. The other common (domesticated) species are frutescens, baccatum and pubescens. There are also other species within the genus that we usually refer to as "wilds". Of course there are hundreds or thousands different varieties/cultivars within each species - Habanero is a Capsicum chinense and Jalapeno is Capsicum annuum for example.

http://www.thechileman.org/guide_species.php
 
chinense doesnt always mean HOT & annuums doesnt always mean mild.
just brought this up cuz of potawies quote & I know potawie knows what he's talking about..just forogt to mention heatless chiles are also in chinense chiles.
annuums are easier to grow & ripen quicker.
 
Ya, there are some heatless chinenses but they are usually lacking in flavor and for me a lot of these so called heatless habs have turned out to be very hot:(
Personally I don't find annuums any easier to grow than chinenses although they usually do grow quicker
 
If you start learning chile taxonomy you are in for many unpleasant surprises.

Most seed purveyors catalogs don't identify by species because the purveyors don't know the name and make one up for marketing purposes. This is particularly prevalent on EBay.

There is a lot of misinformation on chile species written everywhere.
 
POTAWIE said:
Ya, there are a heatless chinenses but they are usually lacking in flavor and for me a lot of these so called heatless habs have turned out to be very hot:(
Personally I don't find annuums any easier to grow than chinenses although they usually do grow quicker
Click to expand...

+ 1 With my plants i find that my annuums produce sturdier plants however pod production is on par with the chinense. If the chinense is weak it seems to produce more pods. Those pods are smaller though.
 
My notes on some of the most common species:

Capsicum Annuum - Fairly easy to grow, but of course it differs a lot from variety to variety.

Varieties: Bell peppers, Cayenne, Chiltepin. I love the black and purple varieties such as Peruvian Purple and Checkoslovakian Black.


Capsicum Baccatum - I find baccatum easiest to grow and this species include my favourite chili varieties. Fruity flavours.

Varieties: Hot Lemon, Aji Norteño and Omnicolor are some varieties. First two with great taste, Omnicolor is beautiful with white, orange, purple and red pods.


Capsicum Chinense - Hard to grow for me. Probably due to the Swedish climate. Chinense need a lot of light and heat.

Varieties: Martinique is the only variety I've manages to get ripe pods from myself, it made for a great salsa! Well known varieties are Bhut Jolokia, Scotch bonnet and Red Savina.


Capsicum Pubescens - Slow growing, sensitive. Also probably due to the climate. These can stand cold due to the "hair" but I think they are picky with lighting.

Varieties: Rocoto, Canario. I'm growing Alberto's Locoto this year, hope it turns out.


These are only my observations and I think you have to find the varieties that work well for you.


[Edit:] Talking of varieties, would be great if you wanted to answer the question on my blog today: http://www.chiliez.com/
 
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