Siam Villa Garden: Tabasco Pepper

Capsicum frutescens is a wild chili pepper having genetic proximity to the cultivated pepper Capsicum sinense native to Central and South America. Pepper cultivars of C. frutescens can be annual or short-lived perennial plants. Flowers are white with a greenish white or greenish yellow corolla, and are either insect- or self-pollinated. The plants' berries typically grow erect; ellipsoid-conical to lanceoloid shaped. They are usually very small and pungent, growing 10–20 millimetres (0.39–0.79 in) long and 3–7 millimetres (0.12–0.28 in) in diameter. Fruit typically grows a pale yellow and matures to a bright red, but can also be other colors. C. frutescens has a smaller variety of shapes compared to other Capsicum species. C. frutescens has been bred to produce ornamental strains because of its large quantities of erect peppers growing in colorful ripening patterns.

Capsicum frutescens plants have smooth, medium-sized, elliptical leaves, and slender branches which are 30–120 cm long. The plants attain their full size in a hot climate. A chili plant can produce about 120 pods of intermediate pungency in a season, with Scoville ratings of between 30,000 and 60,000 units. Pods are erect, and exhibit less variation in color, shape, and size than do Capsicum annuum, C. chinense, and C. baccatum. The phenomenon is probably due to lack of enthusiasm for breeding Capsicum frutescens varieties.