Pepper

This page is for the Capsicum genus, including Green or Bell peppers and various Chili peppers, for others see list of peppers

Plant Characteristics
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial grown as annual"perennial grown as annual" is not in the list (perennial, annual, biennial, unknown) of allowed values for the "Lifespan" property.
Origin:	✈	Americas

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	full sun"full sun" is not in the list (sun, part-sun, shade, unknown) of allowed values for the "Exposure" property.
Water:	◍	regular"regular" is not in the list (wet, moist, moderate, dry, less when dormant) of allowed values for the "Water" property.
Features:	✓	fruit
Sunset Zones:		[[Sunset zones::all zones^sn]]

Scientific Names
Solanaceae >	Capsicum >

Plants in this genus are known as Peppers (or Bell Peppers) in the US, Canada and United Kingdom^wp, but as Capsicum elsewhere. There are a very wide variety of sweet or hot peppers in the Capsicum genus, closely related, which have similar growing needs. These include the sweet or Bell peppers (also known as Green peppers, though they come in a variety of colors), and hot chili peppers of many types, including tabasco, jalapeno, cayenne, habanero and many others.

Pepper plants are attractive small bushes, ranging from under a foot, to 4 feet tall^sn depending on the variety. The leaves are a deep, shiny green, which the ripening peppers can add color to. The cultivation of the plants is the same, regardless of variety, size, color, sweetness or spiciness. Can be planted as an informal border, in pots, or in the vegetable garden.

Sweet peppers never get hot, even if the flesh ripens to a red.

Read about Pepper in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
Capsicum (name of uncertain origin, perhaps from kapto, to bite, on account of the pungency of the seed or pericarp; or from capsa, a chest, having reference to the form of fruit). Solanaceae. Red Pepper. Cayenne Pepper. Herbs or shrubs, originally from tropical America, but escaped from cultivation in Old World tropics, where it was once supposed to be indigenous. Stem branchy, 1-6 ft. high, glabrous or nearly so: lvs. ovate or subelliptical, entire, acuminate: fls. white or greenish white, rarely violaceous, solitary or sometimes in 2's or 3's; corolla rotate, usually 5-lobed; stamens 5, rarely 6 or 7, with bluish anthers dehiscing longitudinally; ovary originally 2-3-loculed: fr. a juiceless berry or pod, extremely variable in form and size, many-seeded, and with more or less pungency about the seeds and pericarp. The fr. becomes many loculed and monstrous in cult.—About 90 species have been named, most of which are now considered forms of one or two species. Monogr. by Irish, 9th Ann. Rept. Mo. Bot. Gard. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Cultivation

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Propagation

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Pests and diseases

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Varieties

Sweet peppers

Sweet peppers include the big salad or stuffing peppers known as green or bell peppers. The best known varieties are 'California Wonder' and 'Yolo Wonder'^sn. Hybrids may offer earlier harvests, better disease resistance and bigger yields. Colors other than green are available, including red, yellow and orange. Purple can also be found, but if cooked the purple will turn green^sn. The very sweet pimientos, which have thick walls, also fall into the sweet pepper category. Pimientos are usually used in salads, cooking and canning. Sweet cherry peppers are grown to be pickled. Italian frying peppers and Hungarian sweet yellow peppers are grown for cooking.