Skip to main content
Search specimens, taxon records etc. Learn more »


Tabasco pepper (Capsicum frutescens)

Cabai rawit or tabasco pepper (Capsicum frutescens) is a plant species in Solanaceae, growing annuals as shrubs for 50-135 cm tall and widening 50-90 cm, an important horticulture and widely cultivated for fruits that have a spicy taste for various uses.

C. frutescens has a perpendicular and sturdy stem, a diameter of 1.5-3 cm, woody and greenish brown. Formation of wood on the main stem begins at the age of 30 days after budding. Each leaf armpit will grow new shoots as secondary branches, tertiary and so on with a Y shape and can reach 21-23 branches.

Dlium Tabasco pepper (Capsicum frutescens)

Strong, branching roots to the side form fibrous roots, penetrating the soil to a depth of 50 cm and a width of 45 cm. The leaves are bright green to dark green depending on variety, have stems, oval shaped with tapered ends and pinnate bones.

Flowers emerge from the leaf armpits, hermaphrodites, trumpet-shaped and complete organs. Usually hanging, calyx has six greenish strands and corolla has five white strands. Pistilum stems are white with greenish-yellow heads.

Each flower has one pistilum and six white colored stamen with purplish blue anthers. After pollination fertilization will occur. At the time of formation of the corolla fruit generally will fall but calyx remains attached to the fruit.

The fruit is short round with a pointed or conical tip, 2-3.5 cm long and 5-12 mm wide, yellowish white when young and red when ripe, flat round, arranged in clusters and attached to the pith.







Tabasco pepper grows well in clay-textured soils, sandy loam and dusty loam, pH 5.5-6.5, open land to get sunlight from morning to evening and good drainage system in the rainy season.

Fresh fruit contains 11,050 SI of vitamin A, or more than any other chili, considered important for ingredients in the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. Usually used to cure sore throats, replace the function of rubbing oil to reduce aches, rheumatism, shortness of breath, itching, boils, skin irritation and stimulate appetite.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Solanales
Family: Solanaceae
Subfamily: Solanoideae
Tribe: Capsiceae
Genus: Capsicum
Species: Capsicum frutescens
Varieties: Capsicum frutescens var. baccatum, Capsicum frutescens var. cerasiforme, Capsicum frutescens var. grossum, Capsicum frutescens var. longum, Capsicum frutescens f. piment

Popular Posts

A deep-sea isopod Bathyopsurus nybelini adapted to feed submerged Sargassum algae

NEWS - Incredible footage shows a marine species, Bathyopsurus nybelini , feeding on something that sinks from the ocean’s surface. Researchers using the submersible Alvin found the isopod swimming 3.7 miles down using its paddle-like legs to catch an unexpected food source: Sargassum. Researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the University of Montana, SUNY Geneseo, Willamette University and the University of Rhode Island found the algae sinking, while the isopod waited and adapted specifically to find and feed on the sinking nutrient source. The Sargassum lives on the surface for photosynthesis. The discovery of a deep-sea animal that relies on food that sinks from the waters miles above underscores the close relationship between the surface and the deep. “It’s fascinating to see this beautiful animal actively interacting with sargassum, so deep in the ocean. This isopod is extremely rare; only a handful of specimens were collected during the groundbreaking Swedis

Ngamugawi wirnagarri reveals evolution of coelacanth fish and history of life on earth

NEWS - An ancient Devonian coelacanth has been remarkably well preserved in a remote location in Western Australia linked to increased tectonic activity. An international team of researchers analysed fossils of the primitive fish from the Gogo Formation of Ngamugawi wirngarri , which straddles a key transition period in the history of coelacanths, between the most primitive and more modern forms. The new fish species adds to the evidence for Earth’s evolutionary journey. Climate change, asteroid strikes and plate tectonics are all key subjects in the origins and extinctions of animals that played a major role in evolution. Is the world’s oldest ‘living fossil’ the coelacanth still evolving? “We found that plate tectonic activity had a major influence on the rate of coelacanth evolution. New species are more likely to have evolved during periods of increased tectonic activity when new habitats were divided and created,” says Alice Clement of Flinders University in Adelaide. The Late Dev

Species going extinct every day and without warning

NEWS - The current rate of human-caused extinction is up to 700 times higher than it was in the past. Extinctions are no different for plants, animals and fungi, although the extinctions of botanicals and invertebrates have been far worse than those of vertebrates. The mass extinctions increased from 1890 to 1940, but a decline in extinctions was only recorded after the 1980s, likely due to taxonomic bottlenecks and the pre-1800 extinction rates being affected by a lack of data. The number of species varies from 2-8 million to 1 trillion, and estimates suggest that most species, especially microbes and fungi that may be key to healthy ecosystems, are still undiscovered. The biodiversity crisis is therefore extremely difficult to measure. “If we don’t know what we have, it’s impossible to measure how much we’re losing. This taxonomic gap urgently needs to be addressed,” say Maarten Christenhusz and RafaĆ«l Govaerts of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Yet taxonomy is in decline. Misunderst