A Preliminary Study of the Crossing Relationships of Capsicum baccatum

The common bird pepper or chilipequin is a variable species ranging from the southern United States throughout Central America into Columbia. It has generally been assumed that this pepper was first described by Linnaeus in his Mantissa of 1767 under the binomial Capsicum baccatum, although Hunziker in his synopsis of the genus apparently does not accept this interpretation. While some authors have treated this taxon as a distinct species, others have considered it a variety of C. frutescens or as a variety of C. annuum. Hence, it seemed desirable that a study be undertaken to contribute to an understanding of the diverse forms of C. baccatum, both to each other and to other species within the genus