Japanese name: 観賞用トウガラシ Scientific name:Capsicum annuum
[Overview]
A perennial treated horticulturally as an annual.
A chili pepper grown for its ornamental fruit.
It branches well and becomes semi-shrubby.
The leaves are simple and alternate, elliptic to lanceolate, with entire margins.
The flowers are borne in the leaf axils at the stem tips, singly or in clusters of several, and bloom facing downward to sideways; they are white or purple.
The corolla is 5–7-lobed.
The fruit is a fleshy berry, with various shapes such as conical, spherical and long cylindrical, and various colors such as red, orange, yellow and purple.
[Uses]
Besides being used as a spice, the fruit is sometimes used medicinally for muscle pain and frostbite.
[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed.
In warm regions it can overwinter outdoors, and even in cold regions it will overwinter if brought into a warm place in winter and kept at 10°C or above.
It prefers a sunny, well-ventilated, well-drained place.
For potted plants, water thoroughly when the soil surface dries; for plants in the ground, rainfall is sufficient.
Place slow-release fertilizer on the soil during the growing season.
Pests include spider mites and aphids.
Care is needed to avoid problems from continuous cropping.
