Capsicum mirabile

Mirabile line drawing of Capsicum

Capsicum mirabile ( syn. Capsicum buforum ) is a wild species of the genus capsicum (Capsicum ) that is found in the rainforests of Brazil. It was first described botanically in 1846.

Description

Capsicum mirabilis is a hairless, herbaceous plant that reaches the heights of growth between 0.5 and 3 m. The shoot axis branched dichotomously, spread apart are the branches. The 7.5 to 10 cm long, stalked leaves are at the top and the base tapering to a point. On the bottom they are hairy near the leaf veins. The inflorescences are from one to three existing flower cymes which branch dichotomously and usually equal diverse. The flower stalks are sideways or upwards. The constant in the fruit cup is bowl - up almost bell-shaped, hairless and staffed with five linealischen calyx teeth. The star- shaped crown has a diameter of about 9 mm, it is white and has purple spots on the Corolla lobe, the inside of the corolla tube is greenish. The stamens and the anthers are of equal length. The ovary is rounded, the scar is inversely tapered. The fruit is a pea- shaped, two-chamber, with ripe yellow-green berry. The large seeds are blackish and kidney-shaped to circular. The plants are self-incompatible. The chromosome number.

Occurrence

The species is endemic in the Brazilian states of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. It grows in open, marshy places in rainforests.

System

For the classification of species within the genus crossing experiments were carried out with other species, but in which no fertile seeds were formed. In experiments with Capsicum mirabile as a male part, incurred in crossing praetermissum with some Capsicum and Capsicum pubescens in fruits each seeds with underdeveloped embryos in crosses with Capsicum cardenasii, Capsicum eximium and other Capsicum praetermissum only the seed coats were formed in the fruit. The intersections with Capsicum annuum, Capsicum chinense and Capsicum frutescens were indeed fruit, but these did not contain seeds. Crossing experiments with baccatum Capsicum Capsicum Capsicum lanceolatum and tovarii were unsuccessful. In experiments in which C. mirabile represented the female part of the intersection, succeeded only in Capsicum pubescens fertilization, but only seed coats it was formed in the fruits. These results show that C. mirabile is systematically far from the studied species.