Capsicum annuum, L.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1972, Flora Europaea. Volume 3. Diapensiacea to Myoporaceae, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press : 197

1. C. annuum L. , Sp. PI. 188 (1753) .

Annual or biennial herb 20-50(-100) cm. Leaves ovate to lanceolate, entire, glabrous; petiole 4-16 cm. Flowers solitary, rarely in pairs. Calyx campanulate. Corolla white, rarely purple, with whitish, green or violet blotches. Anthers ovate-lanceolate. Berry 5-15 cm, very variable in shape, usually red, often orange, yellow, green, brownish-purple or black. Widely cultivated as a vegetable and condiment and occasionally occurring as a casual, especially in S., E.C. & E. Europe. (Tropical America.) C. frutescens L. , Sp. Pl. 189 (1753), from Tropical America, is occasionally cultivated in S.W. Europe. It is a shrub 35-115 cm, which also differs from 1 in having elliptical leaves, the flowers in pairs or groups of 3, a tubular calyx and Jgreenish-white corolla. C. baccatum L. var. pendulum (Willd.) Eshbaugh , Taxon 17: 52 (1968) is cultivated in parts of Germany, Italy and the U.S.S.R. It differs from 1 by the yellow blotches at the base of the petals and the deeply bifurcate base of the anthers.