Capsicum annuum Grossum Group ("Shishitogarashi")

Japanese name: シシトウガラシ （獅子唐辛子）
Scientific name: Capsicum annuum Grossum Group

[Overview]
A green chili pepper with long, slender fruit that are dented at the tip and not pungent.
The leaves are simple, alternate, elliptic to lanceolate, with entire margins.
The flowers are white, borne in the leaf axils near the stem tips, either singly or in clusters of several.
The corolla is 5–7-lobed.
The fruit is a fleshy berry, long and cylindrical, and turns red when ripe.

[Uses]
The fruit is harvested while still green and eaten.

[Cultivation]
It prefers sunny, well-ventilated, well-drained soil.
It is best to make fairly high ridges.
Do not let the plant run short of water or fertilizer during the growing period.
Stress such as a shortage of water or fertilizer increases pungency.
A shortage of fertilizer or too much nitrogen also reduces fruit set.
The best time to harvest is 15–20 days after flowering, when the fruit is about 5–7 cm long.
When many fruits have set, harvest them promptly so that the plant does not become exhausted.
Care is needed to avoid problems from continuous cropping.
Pests and diseases include powdery mildew, viral diseases, bacterial wilt, melon thrips, spider mites, aphids, armyworms and cutworms.

[Notes]
The Japanese name is said to derive from the fact that a fruit tip that is dented, with a small protrusion inside, is called shishimen (lion's face).

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