Some kind of wild growing in Hawaii

[fcaruana]

Hey everyone!
 
I was looking for some help identifying this chile. The picture was sent to me today by a friend currently working in Pahoa, Hawaii, which he says is like a jungle. To me it clearly looks like some wild species, but I can't identify it right off the bat - the white flower is throwing me off.
 
I asked him for some more photos when he gets there next, with close-ups of the flowers and peppers, but until then I'm working with this halfway-decent photo.
 
Here is the plant:

 
Here is my screenshot of a close-up of the flower/flowers:

 
And here is my screenshot of a close-up of the peppers and nearby stem:

 
Compiling my evidence so far: It appears to be some kind of wild capsicum due to the distinctive berry-like shape, small size of the pods, and multitude of pods at one node. The flowers dangle down like a wild capsicum, but are very white, at least in this photo. Last piece of evidence is that the stem looks to have those tiny needle-like hairs protruding from it, which I know several wild capsicums have.
 
Any ideas? I will update as soon as more photos come my way - hopefully in the next day or so.
 
Thanks in advance!

 

[Chilidude]

Maybe it is somekind of C. Frutescens.

 

[fcaruana]

Maybe it is somekind of C. Frutescens.

 
I thought that at first too, but the calyx is wrong. Too spikey, and the peppers face downwards and look like berries - all the frutescens peppers I've seen point up and are a little more pointy.

 

[Chilidude]

 
I thought that at first too, but the calyx is wrong. Too spikey, and the peppers face downwards and look like berries - all the frutescens peppers I've seen point up and are a little more pointy.

 
You could also try checking this page for wild chilis:
https://infernochili.net/?page=villichilit

 

[Dane]

Looks more like a wild solanum. Wich is actually more likely in my opinion. But I know very little specific info about all the wild capsicums.

 

[Guatemalan Insanity Pepper]

maybe Solanum pseudocapsicum  ?

 
Edit* photo found on Google image search of Solanum pseudocapsicum
photo credit i believe belongs to:
Sheldon Navie

 

[juanitos]

not a pepper... solanum

 

[Hafners]

The flowers look like an anuum, but the fruit look like nightshade, quite similar to hairy nightshade. If the fruit doesn't get much bigger, I'd tear the plants out, nightshade can be quite poisonous until ripe, and some varieties stay poisonous.

 

[fcaruana]

Hm.. that does sound more likely. Sneaky bastards.. I could've sworn they looked like a chacoense or something but now that I'm looking at the stem that has the fruit hanging off I'd say you guys are probably right, it's a solanum.

Out of curiosity, how did you know?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Hafners]

Out of curiosity, how did you know?

The shape and color of the fruit, growing in clusters, and the blunted points on the flowers. Plus I let a plant grow out last summer only to realize it was hairy nightshade after the fruit stayed pea sized.

 

[Dane]

The stems appears to have small spikes. The flower penducles don't look right to me for a capsicum but look very much like solanums. The calyx doesn't appear to be capsicum related to me.
Also I believe Hawaii is known to have invasive solanum problems.

 

[Walchit]

I was gonna say it looked kinda like these swartzbeeren that my great grandma used to grow, related to nightshade, but edible. Don't eat those berries though!

In the first picture I thought the flower looked like the stamens or whatever were pretty large for a pepper

 

[Hafners]

Most nightshade berries are actually safe to eat once ripe, really sweet and delicious, its in the unripe state that they can be toxic, even green tomatoes of some varieties can cause some gastric distress. For some reason the hot peppers rarely cause issues when harvested early, some seem to cause more issues when fully ripe and at full heat. Lol.

 

[fcaruana]

Thanks for all the replies! Mystery solved. I told him not to eat them haha
 
Damn Solanums... They'll never fool me again!