Capsicum pubescens
Meaning “hairy”, which is quite accurate designation as the plants are very hairy even as small seedlings.
The pods from this species are known as “Rocotos”.
As this species comes from high mountain areas from tropical countries, the plants withstand cold conditions fairly well.
These pods are great for culinary uses even they need very long season to produce decent amount of hot pods.
There aren’t too much pod diversities in this group, even there are many more pod types than commonly known of.
This species is easy to distinguish because of it’s purple flowers and black seeds which is unique for domesticated peppers.
This species has been cultivated by incas for thousands of years.
These plants can be quite tricky to grow, as with peppers usually you have to grow easy with nitrogen, but with rocotos, you have to be extra careful, or you won’t get any pods during the whole season.
When you get along with these peppers, you’ll learn that they’re really worth growing!
Photos of Capsicum pubescens:
