Species
+

Capsicum baccatum L.

Aji bobito, Aji bonito, Aji caballero, Aji caribe Ajicito montesino

Climate known 23 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 baccatum, also simply referred to as ají, is a perennial shrub member of the genus Capsicum, and is one of the five domesticated chili pepper species. Pungency varies widely among cultivars, ranging from nearly heatless types, such as the Peppadew, to hot varieties; the widely grown ají amarillo registers approximately 30,000 to 50,000 on the Scoville heat unit scale.

Text from Wikipedia, “Capsicum baccatum”, 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
Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador +8
Wild records
517 in range· 460 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Feb, mean day; nights 21 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1398mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jan 193 mm (CHELSA)
Light
22–37DLI
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, April to September in the northern hemisphere (October to March at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 1398 mm a year, wettest January at 193 mm, driest August at 39 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 37 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 3.2 °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 annuum subsp. baccatum (L.) Terpó; Capsicum annuum var. baccatum (L.) Kuntze; Capsicum annuum var. microcarpum (Cav.) Alef.; Capsicum annuum var. microcarpum (Cav.) Voss; Capsicum baccatum Kunth and 12 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (October to March at the habitat, southern).

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 (995 mm of 1398 mm) falls in October to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 23.8 °C against a yearly mean of 21.5 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: April to September.

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 1398 mm a year, wettest January at 193 mm, driest August at 39 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1398 mm a year at the habitat, 995 mm of it October to March. Wettest month January at 193 mm, driest August at 39 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 890 mm to 2060 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern 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: 22 to 37 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 37 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 17, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

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 3.2 °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 3.2 °C, the absolute minimum -2.5 °C, 14 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 12.9 °C in July (across the envelope cells 7.8 °C to 17.3 °C), warmest day 28.2 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 3.2 °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: 58 to 64% 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 22 °C in Jul to 28 °C in Feb; mean night from 13 °C in Jul to 21 °C in Jan. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 1398 mm of rain a year, most in Jan. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 448 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -2.5 °C and the 99th-percentile day 39.4 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°50°frost39.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)-2.5° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 22–37RH 58–64 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 448 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 °C28 / 22–3228 / 22–3128 / 21–3026 / 20–2923 / 19–2722 / 18–2722 / 18–2724 / 19–2925 / 19–3027 / 21–3128 / 21–3128 / 22–31
Night °C21 / 14–2321 / 14–2320 / 14–2318 / 13–2115 / 11–1914 / 9–1813 / 8–1714 / 9–1815 / 10–2018 / 12–2119 / 13–2220 / 14–23
Rain mm193 / 121–315168 / 117–253155 / 113–251111 / 59–20683 / 22–16053 / 7–13440 / 6–12439 / 9–10477 / 18–152130 / 50–205163 / 80–230186 / 120–308
DLI37 / 31–4237 / 31–3933 / 29–3528 / 24–3323 / 20–3122 / 17–3024 / 19–3228 / 25–3532 / 28–3835 / 32–3837 / 32–4036 / 31–43
RH %64 / 59–7064 / 60–7064 / 60–7063 / 60–6963 / 59–6962 / 57–6860 / 55–6758 / 52–6659 / 52–6760 / 56–6861 / 58–6963 / 59–69

Each figure is the median across the 448 grid cells holding the 509 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 2316:2456 (-25.825, -57.175). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -2.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 3.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.4 °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 448 distinct grid cells holding the 509 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2316:2456 (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 -26.00_-56.875, lapse-corrected -54 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 120 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.
NativeBolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Southeast, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Paraguay, Uruguay· introduced: Cape Verde, Congo, Gulf of Guinea Is., Zaïre, Chad, Angola, Mozambique, Zambia, Japan, India, Costa Rica, Honduras, Bermuda, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Brazil North, Chile Central
Kew's description“subshrub or shrub” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-18.108, -63.457 · in the densest population, 226 records (44% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 517 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 460 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1 km away. 168 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 8 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 inside the densest 4° block of the 517 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Capsicum baccatumCapsicum baccatumCapsicum baccatumCapsicum baccatumCapsicum baccatumCapsicum baccatumCapsicum baccatumCapsicum baccatum

Photographs: Filipi Miranda Soares, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (3); Trap Hers, CC BY-SA, via GBIF (3); LAR Lili, CC BY-SA, via GBIF; Ellky Arteta Paredes, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF.

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 baccatum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Biological Properties, Bioactive Constituents, and Pharmacokinetics of Some Capsicum spp. and Capsaicinoids
Gaber El‐Saber Batiha, Ali Alqahtani, Oluwafemi Adeleke Ojo, Hazem M. Shaheen (2020) · International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of Capsicum baccatum: From traditional use to scientific approach
Aline Rigon Zimmer, Bianca Franco Leonardi, Diogo Miron, Elfrides Eva Scherman Schapoval (2011) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles Using Natural Extracts with Proven Antioxidant Activity
Jolanta Flieger, Wοjciech Franus, Rafał Panek, Monika Szymańska‐Chargot (2021) · Molecules
Anti-inflammatory effects of red pepper (Capsicum baccatum) on carrageenan- and antigen-induced inflammation
Fernando Spiller, Márcia Keller Alves, Sílvio M. Vieira, Toni A Carvalho (2008) · Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology
Genome-wide identification and gene expression pattern of ABC transporter gene family in Capsicum spp.
Carlos E. Ortíz, Sudip Kumar Dutta, Purushothaman Natarajan, Yadira Peña-Garcia (2019) · PLoS ONE
A diallel study of yield components and fruit quality in chilli pepper (Capsicum baccatum)
Elizanilda Ramalho do Rêgo, Maílson Monteiro do Rêgo, Fernando Luíz Finger, Cosme Damião Cruz (2009) · Euphytica
Volatile and capsaicinoid composition of ají (Capsicum baccatum) and rocoto (Capsicum pubescens), two Andean species of chile peppers
Hubert Kollmannsberger, Adrián Rodríguez‐Burruezo, Siegfried Nitz, Fernando Nuez (2011) · Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture
Ultrasound-assisted extraction of bioactive compounds from dedo de moça pepper (Capsicum baccatum L.): Effects on the vegetable matrix and mathematical modeling
Arthur Luiz Baião Dias, Camilla Scarelli Arroio Sergio, Philipe dos Santos, Gerardo F. Barbero (2016) · Journal of Food Engineering
Effect of ultrasound on the supercritical CO2 extraction of bioactive compounds from dedo de moça pepper (Capsicum baccatum L. var. pendulum)
Arthur Luiz Baião Dias, Camilla Scarelli Arroio Sergio, Philipe dos Santos, Gerardo F. Barbero (2016) · Ultrasonics Sonochemistry
Phenotypic diversity, correlation and importance of variables for fruit quality and yield traits in Brazilian peppers (Capsicum baccatum)
Elizanilda Ramalho do Rêgo, Maílson Monteiro do Rêgo, Cosme Damião Cruz, Fernando Luíz Finger (2010) · Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution

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 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
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 125 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.