Plant histories
The history behind a number of crop plants.
Looking at where they originated, their domestication, the introduction of these crops to Europe, how European attitudes to them changed over the centuries and ultimately how our changing demands have influenced the plants themselves.
Wild capsicums
Today, there are thousands of different varieties of capsicum including colourful ornamental ones, sweet salad peppers and spicy blow-your-head-off chillies.
A selection of capsicums.
Photographer: Eric in SF. Copyright: CC
Many botanists believe the origins of all these different types can be traced back to about five of the some 30 species of Capsicum. These species can still be found growing wild in various locations in South America, with the highest species diversity in Brazil. Surprisingly, only five of these species have been domesticated. So the thousands of varieties we know today can be traced back to one of these five species.
Finding out which plants are the original ancestors of modern crop plants and trying to determine their place of origin is very challenging. To solve this puzzle, botanists look closely at different capsicum varieties growing in the wild. Botanists also look at other crop relatives growing in the same location; areas which have the greatest diversity of crop relatives are often thought to be the centre of origin for that crop. Back in the lab, or herbarium, botanists look at a wide variety of characteristics in order to work out the relationships of the various types.
Botanists are aiming to collect herbarium specimens and seeds of all wild and domesticated varieties of capsicum; of course, this work is all done with the proper permissions from the authorities of the countries where wild capsicums grow, and in collaboration with local botanists from many countries. When complete, this collection will be very important for improving commercial capsicum varieties including enhancing disease resistance, nutritional quality, yield, and even efficiency of harvesting.
A botanist on a collecting trip to South America.
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Collecting all varieties of capsicum sounds easy but it is proving to be increasingly difficult because the capsicum’s natural habitat is threatened by tropical deforestation. Also, new species are discovered all the time. Just recently two new capsicum species were discovered in Bolivia so discovering diversity is an on-going task. It is possible that a complete collection of all capsicum species may never be gathered.
