Species
+

Capsicum annuum L.

Aichi, Aji de gallina, Ají, Bell Pepper

Climate known 71 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

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.

Family
Solanaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Arizona, Texas, Alabama +37
Wild records
722 in range· 465 open

At a glance

Warmest month
30°C
May, mean day; nights 21 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1266mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Sep 210 mm (CHELSA)
Light
26–39DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to October in the northern hemisphere (May to October at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1266 mm a year, wettest September at 210 mm, driest February at 36 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 39 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 15.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

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.

Temperature

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.

Humidity

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

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 25 °C in Jan to 30 °C in May; mean night from 17 °C in Jan to 23 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1266 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 591 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 12.5 °C and the 99th-percentile day 29.9 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°29.9° 99th-percentile day (undated)12.5° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 26–39RH 59–65 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 591 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C25 / 17–3026 / 19–3128 / 22–3329 / 25–3430 / 25–3429 / 24–3329 / 24–3429 / 24–3529 / 23–3227 / 23–3026 / 21–3025 / 17–29
Night °C17 / 7–2317 / 8–2318 / 11–2320 / 13–2421 / 15–2522 / 15–2523 / 15–2523 / 15–2522 / 15–2420 / 14–2418 / 11–2317 / 7–23
Rain mm42 / 8–13136 / 8–12038 / 7–14556 / 14–187106 / 38–314173 / 71–364170 / 60–357180 / 52–359210 / 77–406137 / 57–36669 / 17–24949 / 9–180
DLI27 / 19–3432 / 23–3836 / 29–4339 / 33–4738 / 29–4537 / 28–4238 / 29–4337 / 30–4133 / 30–3630 / 26–3428 / 20–3326 / 18–32
RH %60 / 53–6859 / 52–6759 / 50–6659 / 50–6661 / 54–6964 / 59–7164 / 58–7164 / 56–7165 / 57–7164 / 57–7162 / 57–7060 / 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

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeArizona, Texas, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Bahamas, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Turks-Caicos Is., Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is., Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil Northeast, Brazil North· introduced: Great Britain, Ireland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Bulgaria, Greece, Baltic States, South European Russia, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Canary Is., Cape Verde, Madeira, Benin, Gambia, The, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Zaïre, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Northern Provinces, Aldabra, Comoros, Mauritius, Madagascar, Réunion, Rodrigues, Krasnoyarsk, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Oman, Inner Mongolia, Korea, Kazan-retto, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Borneo, Jawa, Philippines, Sulawesi, Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Solomon Is., New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Fiji, Gilbert Is., Vanuatu, Cook Is., Line Is., Marquesas, Society Is., Tuamotu, Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., Wake I., Missouri, Connecticut, New York, California, New Mexico, Maryland, Galápagos
Kew's description“annual, subshrub or shrub” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker29.462, -98.47 · in the densest population, 142 records (20% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 722 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 465 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1124 km away. 643 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 41 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 722 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Capsicum annuumCapsicum annuumCapsicum annuumCapsicum annuumCapsicum annuumCapsicum annuumCapsicum annuumCapsicum annuum

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.

The Role of WRKY Transcription Factors in Plant Immunity
Shree P. Pandey, Imre E. Somssich (2009) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Genome sequence of the hot pepper provides insights into the evolution of pungency in Capsicum species
Seungill Kim, Minkyu Park, Seon‐In Yeom, Yong Min Kim (2014) · Nature Genetics
Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Capsicum annuum L. extract
Shikuo Li, Yuhua Shen, Anjian Xie, Xuerong Yu (2007) · Green Chemistry
The red edge position and shape as indicators of plant chlorophyll content, biomass and hydric status.
Iolanda Filella, Josep Peñuelas (1994) · International Journal of Remote Sensing
Changes in Phytochemical and Antioxidant Activity of Selected Pepper Cultivars ( Capsicum Species) As Influenced by Maturity
Luke R. Howard, Stephen T. Talcott, C. H. Brenes, B. Villalón (2000) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Antioxidant Activity of the Main Phenolic Compounds Isolated from Hot Pepper Fruit (Capsicum annuum L.)
Małgorzata Materska, Irena Perucka (2005) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Characterization and Quantitation of Antioxidant Constituents of Sweet Pepper ( Capsicum annuum L.)
Alicia Marín, Federico Ferreres, Francisco A. Tómas‐Barberán, María I. Gil (2004) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Disease-induced changes in plant microbiome assembly and functional adaptation
Min Gao, Chao Xiong, Cheng Gao, Clement K. M. Tsui (2021) · Microbiome
A Drought Resistance-Promoting Microbiome Is Selected by Root System under Desert Farming
Ramona Marasco, Eleonora Rolli, Besma Ettoumi, Gianpiero Vigani (2012) · PLoS ONE
The SOL Genomics Network. A Comparative Resource for Solanaceae Biology and Beyond
Lukas A. Mueller, Teri H. Solow, Nicolas L. Taylor, Beth Skwarecki (2005) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY

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.

Other Capsicum 4 in the reference

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 answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata 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: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.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 answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every 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.