e-Key v3 - *Capsicum
SANBI Flora Keys Logo
Interactive keys to the identification of seed plants of southern Africa using keys based on plant morphology.

Solanaceae - *Capsicum L.

Description :

  • Annual or perennial, much-branched herbs, rarely shrubby at base
  • Leaves entire or repand
  • Flowers solitary or pedicels 2- or 3-nate
  • Calyx shortly campanulate, truncate or with 5 teeth or setae, accrescent
  • Corolla subrotate, 5-partite; lobes valvate
  • Stamens 5, inserted near corolla base; filaments filiform; anthers shorter than or ± as long as filaments, dehiscing longitudinally
  • Disc small
  • Ovary 2(3)-locular; style filiform; stigma ± clavate
  • Fruit a berry, small and globose to large and conical or almost linear, erect or nodding
  • Seeds compressed, rugose or nearly smooth; embryo much curved, cotyledons semiterete
  • x = 6 (9) (aneuploids, high polyploidy)

Nomenclature:

  • *Capsicum L.
    • Linnaeus: 188 (1753)
    • Wright: 250 (1906)

Distribution & Notes:

  • Global : Species 10, tropical America, southern Africa
  • Southern Africa : * Capsicum frutescens L. naturalised in Swaziland and N KwaZulu-Natal

References:

  • LINNAEUS, C. 1753. Species plantarum , edn 1. Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
  • WRIGHT, C.H. 1906. Solanaceae . Flora of tropical Africa 4,2