Bird pepper, chiltepin, chili piquin, tepin

Capsicum hispidum Dunal var. glabriusculum Dunal in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 13(1): 420. 1852; C. annuum var. aviculare (Dierbach) D’Arcy & Eshbaugh; C. annuum var. minus (Fingerhuth) Shinners; C. minimum Miller

Stems 0.3–2 m, branched, frequently purple-striate, slender, usually glabrous, rarely puberulent. Leaves: petiole (4–)6–7(–11) mm; blade ovate or elliptic-ovate, (20–)25–37(–45) × (10–)14–16(–20) mm. Flowering pedicels usually 1 per node, rarely 2–3 per node, (4–)10–14(–25) mm. Flowers: calyx mostly truncate with small umbos in place of teeth; corolla usually white, rarely greenish, 8–12 mm diam., lobes 5–7 mm, sinuses 1–5 mm deep; anthers violet to blue; ovary globose; style short-capitate. Berries deciduous, erect, red, globose to ovoid, 5–10 mm diam., rarely 14+ mm long. Seeds cream to yellow. 2n = 24, 48.

Flowering Mar–Oct, sporadically year-round. Fence rows, pastures, shell mounds, hammocks, waste places, well-drained soils, silty and sandy loams [coffee plan­tations]; 0–300 m; Ala., Ariz., Fla., La., Tex.; Mexico; West Indies; Central America; South America (north of the Amazon River).

Variety glabriusculum is considered to be the pro­genitor of domesticated var. annuum. The center of origin of the bird pepper is believed to be in southern Mexico, and its native range is from the southeastern and southwestern United States and the Caribbean to northern Peru. Domesticated var. annuum (tabasco pepper) is grown throughout warm temperate North America. Plants sometimes escape and persist for years (for example, California, Florida, Missouri, and New Mexico) but are unlikely to become established in the flora area.

The epithet baccatum has been associated erroneously with what is recognized here as var. glabriusculum. Capsicum baccatum Linnaeus is an entirely different species native in South America that has distinct, paired, yellow to tan to greenish markings on each lobe of the corolla.

In 1999, Native Seeds/SEARCH and the United States Forest Service established a 1000-hectare wild chili botanical area and reserve located in Rock Corral Canyon near Tumacacori, Arizona. The preserve pro­tects a large population of var. glabriusculum as an in-situ genetic (germplasm) reserve.