I thought this might be a good place for some definitions. I think uncertainty about a number of terms is leading to confusion on the part of many. These are my own, off-the-cuff definitions and I welcome comments, corrections, suggestions, and additions. With a little lead-in commentary:
Landraces will almost always exhibit greater genetic variabililty than open-pollinated strains that have been selectively bred over time for a particular set of traits. Even these open-pollinated "pure strains" will exhibit some genetic variability, and good thing, too, else we wouldn't have a lot of the new varieties we like to play with today. The only way to get a sexually-reproduced variety that shows little to no variability is to hybridize two open-pollinated pure strains, each parent crop having been rogued before performing the hybridizing cross-pollination. (I'm thinking of large-scale efforts here. The same can be true for crosses between individual specimens.)
I have read elsewhere (ref. available on request) that for peppers, sixty plants is the minimum required to maintain the genetic diversity and relatively consistent phenotype of a particular Capsicum landrace or formal variety. That's a condition difficult to achieve for the hobbiest, but can be approximated with fewer plants per year by keeping seeds in cold storage for a years-long "longitudinal" breeding program. I think it is this inability to maintain a sufficiently broad genetic foundation, coupled with Capsicum's inherent diversity, that has led to the proliferation of varieties we are currently seeing. I think this is a good thing.
Landrace - a traditional plant variety, exhibiting a more or less uniform phenotype, that has developed over time as a result of natural selection and/or informal selection by local growers. Landraces are open-pollinated, but generally exhibit greater genetic variability than selectively-bred pure-strain varieties.
Open pollinated - a plant variety that, when pollinated by members of its own variety, produces progeny that largely reproduce the characteristics of the parent generation.
Pure strain - an open-pollinated plant variety that has been formally selected by plant breeders (professional and amateur) for a specific trait or set of traits. Pure strains exhibit less genetic variability than landraces, but more than F-1 hybrids.
F-1 hybrid - a plant variety that is the result of cross pollination between two different parent varieties. If the parent varieties are pure strain and rogued to remove off-types before performing the cross, the resulting F-1 hybrid generation will show the least genetic variability achievable via sexual reproduction (as opposed to asexual cloning). The progeny of F-1 hybrids will not be true to type, but may provide interesting starting material for further selection in a formal breeding program.
Cross pollination or out crossing - Pollination that occurs between plants of different varieties. Sometimes "cross pollination" is used to refer to pollination between two different members of the same self-pollinating plant variety. This is the case with peppers and I think has led to some confusion on occasion.
Rogue - (n.) an individual plant in a phenotypically consistent population that shows off-type characteristics. (v.) to remove said off-type individual from a breeding population