Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum

{{Short description|Variety of chili pepper}} {{Redirect|Tepin|the racehorse|Tepin (horse)}} {{Distinguish|Turkish pepper}} {{Infraspeciesbox |image = chiltepin_mexico_sonora.jpg |status = T5 |status_system = TNC |status_ref = <ref>{{cite web |title=''Capsicum annuum'' var. ''glabriusculum'', Cayenne Pepper. NatureServe Explorer 2.0 |url=https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.130310/Capsicum_annuum_var_glabriusculum |website=explorer.natureserve.org |access-date=17 January 2023}}</ref> |genus = Capsicum |species = annuum |varietas = glabriusculum |authority = (Dunal) Heiser and Pickersgill |synonyms = *''C. annuum'' var. ''minimum'' (Mill.) Heiser *''C. hispidum'' var. ''glabriusculum'' Dunal *''C. microphyllum'' Dunal |synonyms_ref = <ref name="GRIN">{{GRIN | access-date=2010-06-23}}</ref> }} {{Pepper | heat = very hot | scoville = 20,000<ref name="Fayos"/> – 140,000<ref name="Sanatombi"/> }} {{wikt | chiltepin}}

'''''Capsicum annuum'' var. ''glabriusculum''''', a chili-pepper variety of ''Capsicum annuum'', is native to southern North America and northern South America.<ref name="GRIN"/> Common names include '''chiltepín''', '''Indian pepper''', '''grove pepper''', '''chiltepe''', and '''chile tepín''', as well as '''turkey''', '''bird’s eye''', or simply '''bird peppers''' (due to their consumption and spread by wild birds; "unlike humans birds are impervious to the heat of peppers").<ref>{{cite AV media|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox57uWpByIc |date= October 18, 2019 |title= Seed Stories - Chiltepin Pepper: Wild Chile of the Borderlands |medium=documentary |time= 1:13 |work=Rare Seeds |accessdate=November 27, 2021}}</ref> ''Tepín'' is derived from a Nahuatl word meaning "flea". This variety is the most likely progenitor of the domesticated ''C. annuum'' var. ''annuum''.<ref> {{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=3n7e2VYtLVsC |title= Genetic Resources, Chromosome Engineering, and Crop Improvement: Vegetable crops |first= Ram J. |last=Singh |publisher=CRC Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8493-9646-5 |page=203}}</ref> Another similar-sized pepper, 'Pequin' (also called 'piquin') is often confused with tepin, although the tepin fruit is round to oval where as the pequin's fruit is oval with a point, and the leaves, stems and plant structures are very different on each plant.

== Description ==

Chiltepin is a perennial shrub that usually grows to a height of around {{convert|1|m|ftin|abbr=on}}, but sometimes reaches {{convert|3|m|ftin|abbr=on}}.<ref name="Richardson">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vF_1X65cDxYC |title=Plants of the Rio Grande Delta |first=Alfred |last=Richardson |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-292-77070-6 |page=232}}</ref> In areas without hard frost in winter, plants can live 35 – 50 years.

=== Fruit ===

<gallery> File:Chiltepin Cluster.png|Cluster of 18 intertwined plants File:Capsicum annuum chiltepin dried.jpg|''Capsicum annuum'' chiltepin dried </gallery>

The tiny chili peppers of ''C. annuum'' var. ''glabriusculum'' are red to orange-red, usually slightly ellipsoidal, and about {{convert|0.8|cm|in|frac=3|abbr=on}} in diameter.<ref name="IITF">{{cite web |title=''Capsicum annuum'' L. bird pepper |url=http://www.fs.fed.us/global/iitf/pdf/shrubs/Capsicum%20annuum.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091229184818/http://www.fs.fed.us/global/iitf/pdf/shrubs/Capsicum%20annuum.pdf |archive-date=Dec 29, 2009 |access-date=2010-07-16 |work=International Institute of Tropical Forestry |publisher=United States Forest Service}}</ref> Some strains of tepin peppers are much closer to perfectly round when fresh. A dried tepin pepper appears quite round even if it was slightly ellipsoidal when fresh. Tepin peppers are very hot, measuring between 20,000<ref name="Fayos">{{cite journal | journal=J. Agric. Food Chem. | issue=44 | volume=67 | pages=12219–12227 | year=2015 | title=Assessment of Capsaicinoid and Capsinoid Accumulation Patterns during Fruit Development in Three Chili Pepper Genotypes (''Capsicum'' spp.) Carrying ''Pun1'' and ''pAMT'' Alleles Related to Pungency | doi=10.1021/acs.jafc.9b05332 | pmid=31613626 | first1=Oreto | last1=Fayos | first2=Neftalí | last2=Ochoa-Alejo | first3=Octavio Martínez | last3=de la Vega | first4=María | last4=Savirón | first5=Jesús | last5=Orduna | first6=Cristina | last6=Mallor | first7=Gerardo F. | last7=Barbero | first8=Ana | last8=Garcés-Claver }}</ref> – 140,000<ref name="Sanatombi"/> SHU, with the highest levels seen in green fruit ~40 days after fruit set.<ref name="Fayos"/> The tepin can be hotter than the habanero or red savina.<ref name="Sanatombi"/>

However and since this pepper is primarily harvested from wild stands in the Mexican desert,<ref name="Sanatombi"/> the heat level of the fruit can vary greatly from year to year, depending on the amount of natural rainfall that occurs during the time the fruits are forming. Fruit heat levels can be weak during drought years, and normal rainfall years produce the highest heat levels. The heat levels also varies between the green fresh fruits (which are pickled in vinegar), red-ripe fresh fruits, dried whole fruit, and dried fruit with the seeds removed, with heat levels arranged from hottest to mildest in that order. Around 50 tons are estimated to be harvested commercially annually in Mexico, primarily in Sonora.<ref name="Sanatombi">{{cite journal | issue=2 | volume=36 | last2=Sharma | pages=89–90 | date=2008-12-30 | journal=Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca | issn=1842-4309 | first1=K. | first2=G. J. | last1=Sanatombi | title=Capsaicin Content and Pungency of Different ''Capsicum'' spp. Cultivars | url=https://www.notulaebotanicae.ro/index.php/nbha/article/view/345/346 | s2cid=85653656}}</ref>

In Mexico, the heat of the chiltepin is called ''arrebatado'' ("rapid" or "violent"), because, while the heat is intense, it is not very enduring. This stands in contrast to the domesticated 'Pequin' variety, which is the same size as the wild tepin, but is oval-shaped, and delivers a decidedly different experience.

The different drying methods used for the tepin and 'Pequin', can help tell these peppers apart. Tepins are always sun-dried, whereas the Pequins are commonly dried over wood smoke, and the smell of the smoke in the Pequins can help separate the two varieties. Pequins are not as hot as chiltepins (only about 30,000 – 50,000 Scoville units),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/blhotchiles.htm |title=Chile Pepper Heat Scoville Scale |work=Home Cooking |publisher=About.com |access-date=2010-07-16 |archive-date=2012-02-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226211137/http://homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/blhotchiles.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> but they have a much slower and longer-lasting effect.

== Habitat and range ==

''C. annuum'' var. ''glabriusculum'' is native to the Sonoran-Arizonan desert and can be found in Texas, Arizona, Louisiana and Florida in the Southern United States, the Bahamas, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and Colombia.<ref name="GRIN"/> It prefers well-drained soils, such as silty or sandy loams, and {{convert|800|-|2000|mm|in|abbr=on}} of annual precipitation in Puerto Rico. It may be found in areas with a broken forest canopy or disturbed areas that lack tree cover if moisture and soil are favorable. Elsewhere, such as in Arizona, it may require the partial shading of a nurse plant.<ref name="IITF"/>

== Symbolism ==

Chiltepin was named "the official native pepper of Texas" in 1997,<ref>{{cite web |last=Smith-Rodgers |first=Sheryl |date=November 2011 |title=Flora Fact: Tiny Terror - Fiery chile pequín is the state's only native pepper. |url=https://tpwmagazine.com/archive/2011/nov/scout3_florafact_chilepequin/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416182208/https://tpwmagazine.com/archive/2011/nov/scout3_florafact_chilepequin/ |archive-date=April 16, 2023 |access-date=November 27, 2021 |work=Texas Parks and Wildlife}}</ref> two years after the jalapeño became the official pepper of Texas.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ref/abouttx/symbols.html |title=Texas State Symbols |work=About Texas |publisher=Texas State Library and Archives Commission |access-date=2010-07-16 |archive-date=2018-12-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224225022/https://www.tsl.texas.gov/ref/abouttx/symbols.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Conservation ==

In 1999, Native Seeds/SEARCH and the United States Forest Service established the {{convert|2500|acre|ha|abbr=on|adj=on}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://faculty.washington.edu/tewksjj/wild_chile.html |title=The Wild Chile Botanical Area |year=2005 |publisher=Department of Biology, University of Washington |access-date=2010-03-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090531074127/http://faculty.washington.edu/tewksjj/wild_chile.html |archive-date=2009-05-31 }}</ref> Wild Chile Botanical Area in the Coronado National Forest. Located in the Rock Corral Canyon near Tumacacori, Arizona,<ref name="Horst">{{cite journal|url=http://crm.cr.nps.gov/archive/24-04/24-04-7.pdf |title=Native Seeds/SEARCH Tradition and Conservation |first=Todd |last=Horst |journal=Cultural Resource Management |volume=24 |issue=4 |year=2001 |pages=23–26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527121848/http://crm.cr.nps.gov/archive/24-04/24-04-7.pdf |archive-date=2010-05-27 }}</ref> the preserve protects a large ''C. annuum'' var. ''glabriusculum'' population for study<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mamTkI3XMYEC |title=Plants |first=Jackie |last=Ball |author2=Denise Vega |author3=Uechi Ng |publisher=Gareth Stevens |isbn=978-0-8368-3218-1 |year=2002 |pages=25}}</ref> and as a genetic reserve.<ref name="Horst"/>

== See also == *List of ''Capsicum'' cultivars *''Capsicum annuum'' *''Capsicum''

== Notes == {{Reflist|2}}

== External links == {{Commons category|Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum|''Capsicum annuum ''var.'' glabriusculum''}} * [http://www.whatamieating.com/tepin_chile.html ''Tepin''], in What Am I Eating? A Food Dictionary

annuum var. glabriusculum Category:Plants described in 1975 Category:Flora of the Bahamas Category:Flora of the Caribbean Category:Flora of Central America Category:Flora of Colombia Category:Flora of Florida Category:Flora of Mexico Category:Flora of Texas Category:Symbols of Texas Category:Chili peppers