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Capsicum rhomboideum; photograph (c) EstebanMH, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) EstebanMH, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-03-09

Capsicum rhomboideum (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Dunal) Kuntze

Wild pepper

Solanaceae · Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast +13

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Capsicum rhomboideum (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Dunal) Kuntze: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, (Dunal) Kuntze.

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Capsicum rhomboideum, photograph (c) Cody Hinchliff, some rights reserved (CC BY)Capsicum rhomboideum, photograph (c) Cody Hinchliff, some rights reserved (CC BY)Capsicum rhomboideum, photograph (c) Leonardo O. Alvarado Cárdenas, some rights reserved (CC BY)Capsicum rhomboideum, photograph (c) Leonardo O. Alvarado Cárdenas, some rights reserved (CC BY)Capsicum rhomboideum, photograph (c) Leonardo O. Alvarado Cárdenas, some rights reserved (CC BY)Capsicum rhomboideum, photograph (c) Efrain Freire, some rights reserved (CC BY) 90 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
8.2°C
Record low 5.4 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
27°C
May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,167mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
28–40DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes May to October (the habitat's months, not shifted), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Capsicum rhomboideum is a perennial member of the genus Capsicum with 2n=2x=26, and is considered a distant wild relative of the chili pepper. Its fruit do not have any pungency, and are a 0 on the Scoville Heat Unit scale. It gets its name from the rhomboidal to elliptical shape of its leaves. It is native to Mexico, Central America, and Andean region of South America.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Capsicum rhomboideum", CC BY-SA 4.0.

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.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Capsicum", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (736 mm of 980 mm) falls in May to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 20.6 °C against a yearly mean of 19.1 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere. The habitat lies within 10° of the equator, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

980 mm in the median year at the habitat, 736 mm of it May to October. Wettest month September at 170 mm, driest month March at 28 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 683 mm to 1,933 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,167 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 980 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 40 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 8.2 °C, the absolute minimum 5.4 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 26.7 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 11.4 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 7.1 °C to 18.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 26.6 °C in May (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 8.2 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 61 to 65% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: 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 moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

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

Light. 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.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +127 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Capsicum rhomboideum through the yearWarmest month May, mean daily high 27 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 11.4 °C; 980 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.0°5°10°15°20°25°30°35°26.7° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER5.4° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 28–40RH 61–65%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 268 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C21 / 17–2623 / 18–2725 / 18–2926 / 18–3127 / 18–3125 / 18–3124 / 18–3025 / 19–3124 / 19–2923 / 18–2823 / 18–2721 / 17–27
Night °C11 / 7–1912 / 8–1913 / 9–1915 / 10–2016 / 10–2117 / 10–2216 / 10–2217 / 10–2216 / 10–2115 / 10–2013 / 9–1912 / 8–19
Rain mm38 / 13–12329 / 12–13528 / 10–17860 / 20–21893 / 46–195121 / 51–276114 / 26–290117 / 26–248170 / 67–311121 / 59–22954 / 16–20835 / 9–155
DLI30 / 23–3432 / 28–3835 / 31–4339 / 28–4640 / 27–4436 / 27–4236 / 29–4237 / 31–4133 / 30–3731 / 28–3629 / 25–3428 / 22–32
RH %63 / 54–6862 / 53–6861 / 53–6861 / 53–6963 / 57–6864 / 59–6964 / 58–7063 / 57–6965 / 59–7065 / 60–6964 / 58–6964 / 56–69
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 268 grid cells holding the 546 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1868:2016 (-3.425, -79.175). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 5.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 8.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 26.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 268 distinct grid cells holding 546 of the 546 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1868:2016 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -3.50_-79.375, lapse-corrected +127 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2103 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 the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuelan Antilles, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-0.042, -78.446 · in the densest population, 284 records (35% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 816 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 546 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 541 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 3294 km away. 270 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 816 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Capsicum rhomboideum, photograph 1did not loadCapsicum rhomboideum, photograph 2did not loadCapsicum rhomboideum, photograph 3did not loadCapsicum rhomboideum, photograph 4did not loadCapsicum rhomboideum, photograph 5did not loadCapsicum rhomboideum, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Cody Hinchliff, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Leonardo O. Alvarado Cárdenas, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Efrain Freire, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Laelia anceps Laelia anceps Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Leonardo O. Alvarado Cárdenas Asplenium nigripes Aspleniaceae Phymosia umbellata Phymosia umbellata Mexican Bush Mallow Photo: CC BY-SA, Juan Cruzado CortésPseudalcantarea grandis Pseudalcantarea grandis Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, Peter AbrahamsenCyperus aggregatus Cyperus aggregatus Inflatedscale flatsedge Photo: CC BY, Lucas CarboneFicus velutina Ficus velutina Moraceae Photo: CC BY, Nicolás Baresch Uribe

Other Capsicum 9 in the reference

Capsicum annuum Capsicum annuum Sweet pepper Photo: CC BY, Sam KieschnickCapsicum baccatum Capsicum baccatum Bird pepper Photo: CC BY, Ellky Arteta ParedesCapsicum cardenasii Capsicum cardenasii Ulupica pepper Photo: CC0, author not statedCapsicum chacoense Capsicum chacoense Tova pepper Photo: CC BY, Gabriel Reinoso FranchinoCapsicum chinense Capsicum chinense Bonnet pepper Photo: CC BY, Mark RichmanCapsicum frutescens Capsicum frutescens Spur pepper Photo: CC BY, Jon SullivanCapsicum geminifolium Capsicum geminifolium Solanaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedCapsicum pubescens Capsicum pubescens Apple chile Photo: CC BY, Sebastián Ordóñez Capsicum rabenii Solanaceae

Names & registers

Also known as Brachistus arboreus; Brachistus barutanus; Brachistus caracasanus; Brachistus ciliatus; Brachistus diversifolius and 34 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Solanaceae
Described by
(Humb. & Bonpl. ex Dunal) Kuntze
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +12
Wild records
816 in range · 541 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21GBIF's key 3798167 is Capsicum rhomboideum (Dunal) Kuntze; the page links Kew's Capsicum rhomboideum (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Dunal) Kuntze, and the name is cited as Kew cites it
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 32 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (7 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 16 at a herbarium, 9 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -3.50_-79.375, lapse-corrected +127 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Capsicum rhomboideum (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Dunal) Kuntze (the item's: IPNI 44947-2, POWO 993719-1)
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 82 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…