I've noticed an explosion of hot pepper cultivars lately, especially supposed super-hots. I've also read about some of them (especially those that have took the Bhut Jolokia's throne as the Guinness World Record holder) are hybrids. Some of them, including some 7 Pod strains, I thought were stabilized... but a while back in another thread I read that they're actually hybrids.
So... how do you know if a plant is a hybrid? I mean, normally it would have hybrid in the name, I thought... but the reason I thought many of these hybrids were, eh... not hybrids in the first place is because they had "hybrid" nowhere in the name or description. So what is this? Horrible marketing? Outright deception? Or is "hybrid" being used both for unstable and stable hybrids, and no one is distinguishing between the two?
I have to wonder how many ornamental pepper plants, for example, are unstable vs. stable hybrids, and they usually don't say "Hybrid" in the name to distinguish them.
So... how do you know if a plant is a hybrid? I mean, normally it would have hybrid in the name, I thought... but the reason I thought many of these hybrids were, eh... not hybrids in the first place is because they had "hybrid" nowhere in the name or description. So what is this? Horrible marketing? Outright deception? Or is "hybrid" being used both for unstable and stable hybrids, and no one is distinguishing between the two?
I have to wonder how many ornamental pepper plants, for example, are unstable vs. stable hybrids, and they usually don't say "Hybrid" in the name to distinguish them.