Species
+

Capsicum frutescens L.

African Chilli, African Pepper, Aji, Aji caballero (ES); Bird pepper

Climate known 54 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Capsicum frutescens is a wild chili pepper that has genetic proximity to the cultivated pepper Capsicum chinense. It is native to Central and South America as well as Mexico. Pepper cultivars of C. frutescens can be annual or short-lived perennial plants.

Text from Wikipedia, “Capsicum frutescens”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Capsicum

Capsicum is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae, native to the Americas, cultivated worldwide for their edible fruit, which are generally known as "peppers" or "capsicum". Chili peppers grow on five species of Capsicum. Sweet or bell peppers and some chili peppers are Capsicum annuum, making it the most cultivated species in the genus.

Text from Wikipedia, “Capsicum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Solanaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast +23
Wild records
508 in range· 385 open

At a glance

Warmest month
29°C
Mar, mean day; nights 22 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1818mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Sep 203 mm (CHELSA)
Light
30–35DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (March and May to November at the habitat (not shifted)). Habitat rain 1818 mm a year, wettest September at 203 mm, driest February at 101 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 35 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 19.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Capsicum annuum var. conicum (G.Mey.) Alef.; Capsicum annuum var. conoide (Mill.) Irish; Capsicum annuum var. frutescens (L.) Alef.; Capsicum annuum var. frutescens (L.) Kuntze; Capsicum annuum var. parvo-acuminatum Makino and 29 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (March and May to November at the habitat (not shifted)).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (1352 mm of 1818 mm) takes 8 months, March and May to November. Mean temperature moves 1.0 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; with a flat temperature curve there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1818 mm a year, wettest September at 203 mm, driest February at 101 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1818 mm a year at the habitat, 1352 mm of it March and May to November. Wettest month September at 203 mm, driest February at 101 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1045 mm to 3553 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 35 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 35 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 19.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 19.8 °C, the absolute minimum 16.6 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 29.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 21.2 °C in January (across the envelope cells 14.4 °C to 23.7 °C), warmest day 28.9 °C in March (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 19.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 64 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 28 °C in Jan to 29 °C in Mar; mean night from 21 °C in Jan to 22 °C in May. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1818 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 450 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 16.6 °C and the 99th-percentile day 29.1 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°29.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)16.6° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 30–35RH 64–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 450 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C28 / 24–3028 / 24–3129 / 25–3129 / 25–3328 / 25–3328 / 24–3228 / 23–3228 / 24–3229 / 24–3228 / 24–3128 / 24–3028 / 23–30
Night °C21 / 14–2421 / 15–2422 / 16–2422 / 16–2422 / 15–2522 / 15–2521 / 15–2522 / 15–2522 / 15–2522 / 16–2421 / 16–2421 / 15–24
Rain mm106 / 25–295101 / 21–294132 / 20–341127 / 36–365147 / 61–404190 / 35–418172 / 27–409172 / 25–385203 / 40–391174 / 46–338162 / 33–293132 / 31–283
DLI31 / 25–3732 / 28–3835 / 29–4134 / 26–4331 / 24–4230 / 23–4032 / 24–4134 / 28–4033 / 29–3932 / 27–3931 / 25–3730 / 23–36
RH %65 / 58–7064 / 57–7064 / 56–7165 / 56–7266 / 57–7366 / 60–7465 / 59–7365 / 59–7266 / 59–7266 / 59–7266 / 59–7265 / 59–71

Each figure is the median across the 450 grid cells holding the 495 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1438:2064 (18.075, -76.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 16.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 19.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 29.1 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 450 distinct grid cells holding the 495 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1438:2064 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 18.00_-76.875, lapse-corrected +358 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 496 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is., Guyana, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North· introduced: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Canary Is., Madeira, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Togo, Burundi, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Rwanda, Zaïre, Chad, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Aldabra, Mozambique Channel Is., Yemen, Kazan-retto, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Jawa, Philippines, Christmas I., New Guinea, Solomon Is., New South Wales, Queensland, Fiji, Gilbert Is., Niue, New Caledonia, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Cook Is., Line Is., Marquesas, Society Is., Tuamotu, Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., Wake I., Hawaii, Louisiana, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Netherlands Antilles, Venezuelan Antilles, French Guiana, Surinam, Galápagos
Kew's description“subshrub or shrub” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker20.63, -88.96 · in the densest population, 123 records (24% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 508 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 385 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 132 km away. 711 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 13 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 508 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Capsicum frutescensCapsicum frutescensCapsicum frutescensCapsicum frutescensCapsicum frutescensCapsicum frutescensCapsicum frutescensCapsicum frutescens

Photographs: (c) Eric Knight, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) ritirene, some rights reserved (CC BY); no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Takaaki Hattori, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Capsicum frutescens, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Changes in Phytochemical and Antioxidant Activity of Selected Pepper Cultivars ( Capsicum Species) As Influenced by Maturity
Luke R. Howard, Stephen T. Talcott, C. H. Brenes, B. Villalón (2000) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Alpha-Tocopherol Content in 62 Edible Tropical Plants
Ling Soon Ching, Suhaila Mohamed (2001) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Bacterial spot of tomato and pepper: diverse X anthomonas species with a wide variety of virulence factors posing a worldwide challenge
Neha Potnis, Sujan Timilsina, A. Strayer, Deepak Shantharaj (2015) · Molecular Plant Pathology
Environmental implications of low nitrogen use efficiency in excessively fertilized hot pepper (Capsicum frutescens L.) cropping systems
Jinlong Zhu, X.L. Li, Peter Christie, J.L. Li (2005) · Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment
Cadmium Uptake by Plants
F. Haghiri (1973) · Journal of Environmental Quality
Enzymes inhibitors from natural sources with antidiabetic activity: A review
Fiaz Alam, Zainab Shafique, Sayyeda Tayyeba Amjad, Muhammad Hassham Hassan Bin Asad (2018) · Phytotherapy Research
Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of capsaicinoids from malagueta pepper (Capsicum frutescens L.) assisted by ultrasound
Philipe dos Santos, Ana Carolina de Aguiar, Gerardo F. Barbero, Camila A. Rezende (2014) · Ultrasonics Sonochemistry
Pharmacokinetic and the effect of capsaicin in Capsicum frutescens on decreasing plasma glucose level.
Kamon Chaiyasit, Weerapan Khovidhunkit, Supeecha Wittayalertpanya (2009) · PubMed
Ultrasound-assisted extraction of capsaicinoids from Capsicum frutescens on a lab- and pilot-plant scale
Sumate Boonkird, Chada Phisalaphong, Muenduen Phisalaphong (2008) · Ultrasonics Sonochemistry
Studies on the Feeding, Reproduction, and Development of Amblyseius hibisci (Acarina: Phytoseiidae) on Various Food Substances1
J. A. McMurtry, G. T. Scriven (1964) · Annals of the Entomological Society of America
Herbal medicine for low-back pain
Hanna N. Oltean, Chris Robbins, Maurits W. van Tulder, Brian Berman (2014) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Capsicum 4 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 174 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.