Capsicum annuum L.
Aichi, Aji de gallina, Ají, Bell Pepper
Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.
Summary
Capsicum annuum is a flowering plant in the family Solanaceae (nightshades), native to the northern regions of South America and to southwestern North America. The plant produces berries of many colors including red, green, and yellow, often with pungent taste. It is one of the oldest cultivated crops, with domestication dating back to around 6,000 years ago in regions of Mexico. The genus Capsicum has over 30 species but Capsicum annuum is the primary species in its genus, as it has been widely cultivated for human consumption for a substantial amount of time and has spread across the world. More on Wikipedia ›
The opening of Wikipedia, “Capsicum annuum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.
About the genus · Capsicum
Capsicum is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae, native to the Americas, cultivated worldwide for their edible fruit, which are generally known as "peppers" or "capsicum". Chili peppers grow on five species of Capsicum. Sweet or bell peppers and some chili peppers are Capsicum annuum, making it the most cultivated species in the genus.
Text from Wikipedia, “Capsicum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.
At a glance
Also known as Capsicum abyssinicum A.Rich.; Capsicum angulosum Mill.; Capsicum angulosum var. conicum Fingerh.; Capsicum angulosum var. macrocarpum Dunal; Capsicum angulosum var. ovale Fingerh. and 45 more.
Cultivation
Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to October in the northern hemisphere (May to October at the habitat, northern).
This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.
The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (976 mm of 1266 mm) falls in May to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 25.6 °C against a yearly mean of 23.7 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to April.
Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.
Rain Habitat rain 1266 mm a year, wettest September at 210 mm, driest February at 36 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
1266 mm a year at the habitat, 976 mm of it May to October. Wettest month September at 210 mm, driest February at 36 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 739 mm to 2942 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.
Light Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 39 mol/m²/day.
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 39 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 18, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).
CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.
Warmth and air Cold floor 15.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 15.1 °C, the absolute minimum 12.5 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 29.9 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 16.6 °C in January (across the envelope cells 6.5 °C to 22.8 °C), warmest day 29.5 °C in May (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 15.1 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).
NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.
Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 65% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.
CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.
The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.
Climate across the habitat
Figures by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 25 / 17–30 | 26 / 19–31 | 28 / 22–33 | 29 / 25–34 | 30 / 25–34 | 29 / 24–33 | 29 / 24–34 | 29 / 24–35 | 29 / 23–32 | 27 / 23–30 | 26 / 21–30 | 25 / 17–29 |
| Night °C | 17 / 7–23 | 17 / 8–23 | 18 / 11–23 | 20 / 13–24 | 21 / 15–25 | 22 / 15–25 | 23 / 15–25 | 23 / 15–25 | 22 / 15–24 | 20 / 14–24 | 18 / 11–23 | 17 / 7–23 |
| Rain mm | 42 / 8–131 | 36 / 8–120 | 38 / 7–145 | 56 / 14–187 | 106 / 38–314 | 173 / 71–364 | 170 / 60–357 | 180 / 52–359 | 210 / 77–406 | 137 / 57–366 | 69 / 17–249 | 49 / 9–180 |
| DLI | 27 / 19–34 | 32 / 23–38 | 36 / 29–43 | 39 / 33–47 | 38 / 29–45 | 37 / 28–42 | 38 / 29–43 | 37 / 30–41 | 33 / 30–36 | 30 / 26–34 | 28 / 20–33 | 26 / 18–32 |
| RH % | 60 / 53–68 | 59 / 52–67 | 59 / 50–66 | 59 / 50–66 | 61 / 54–69 | 64 / 59–71 | 64 / 58–71 | 64 / 56–71 | 65 / 57–71 | 64 / 57–71 | 62 / 57–70 | 60 / 54–69 |
Each figure is the median across the 591 grid cells holding the 681 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1619:1939 (9.025, -83.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 12.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 15.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 29.9 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 591 distinct grid cells holding the 681 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1619:1939 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 9.00_-83.125, lapse-corrected +197 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1096 m (cell mean).
Natural habitat
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Thomas Mesaglio, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5); (c) Carlos Domínguez-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).
Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.
Papers naming this species
Works whose title or abstract names Capsicum annuum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.
Related
Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.
Oncidium sphacelatum Kandyan Dancer Orchid
Cascabela thevetia Be-still tree
Diospyros nigra Ebenaceae
Hamelia patens Firebush
Selenicereus undatus Nightblooming Cactus
Pistia stratiotes Lettuce waterOther Capsicum 4 in the reference
Capsicum baccatum bird pepper
Capsicum chinense Chinese capsicum
Capsicum frutescens African Chilli
Capsicum pubescens apple chile History & registers
Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)wcvp.distribution answeredgbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zamclimate answeredwikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skippedinat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skippedinat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)gbif.media answeredopenalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skippedEvery upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 189 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.








