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