Collection: Capsicum Rhomboideum

Capsicum rhomboideum: Capsicum rhomboideum is a wild, non-pungent species known more to botanists and collectors than to cooks. It has distinctive rhomboid (diamond-shaped) leaves, usually small and bright green, carried on slender, woody stems that can form a loose shrub. Flowers are small and yellow, and the berries are tiny, typically turning from green to yellow or red, but they lack capsaicin, so they have no detectable heat. As a result, this species is of interest for studying the genetics of pungency rather than for culinary fire. It is native to parts of Central and northern South America, where it grows in dry forests, scrub, and montane habitats, contributing genetic diversity to the wider Capsicum lineage.