NAME: Capsicum annuum

FAMILY: Solanaceae

COMMON NAMES: Bell pepper, red pepper, sweet pepper, Cayenne Pepper.

LOCAL NAMES: Ata rodo, sombo, Ose oyinbo, ngayok, piment

MORPHORLOGICAL DESCRIPTION:

A subshrub perennial plant that is usually grown as an annual. The height depend on the variety but is about 0.5-1.5m tall.

USEFUL PART(s): seed, fruit, flower, leaves

GENERAL USES:

Fruits are used in salad, soup, stew
Young leaves are said to be edible
Seed is dried, ground into a powder and used as a pepper
Food preservative

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION:

China, Mexico, Thailand, Nigeria, Egypt

WHY IS IT GREEN?

antiseptic
diaphoretic
rubefacient,
Stimulant
Carminative
Vitamin C
sialagogue

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Capsicum annuum is an invasive weed as list by The Global Compendium of Weeds.

FUN FACT

Bird pepper is the most widely used condiment all over the Universe.

FURTHER READINGS

Capsaicin Content and Pungency of Different Capsicum spp. Cultivars. (2008). Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca. https://doi.org/10.15835/nbha362345

Cichewicz, R. H., & Thorpe, P. A. (1996). The antimicrobial properties of chile peppers (Capsicum species) and their uses in Mayan medicine. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-8741(96)01384-0

Lim, T. K., & Lim, T. K. (2013). Capsicum annuum. In Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5628-1_28

Zhigila, D. A., Abdulrahaman, A. A., Kolawole, O. S., & Oladele, F. A. (2014). Fruit morphology as taxonomic features in five varieties of capsicum annuum L. solanaceae. Journal of Botany. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/540868