What is a capsicum?
Old School detention:
When you ask a search engine what a capsicum is, the answer will most likely be: “Capsicum L. is a genus of flowering plants within the Solanaceae (nightshade) family.” But what does this actually mean?
In the 1700s, Carl Linnaeus—a Swedish botanist and physician—revolutionized the classification of plants by developing the Linnaean taxonomy, a system that organized living organisms into hierarchical categories based largely on their physical (morphological) traits. Although Linnaeus did not personally discover capsicum plants, he studied specimens brought back by early Spanish explorers from the Americas. Capsicum is derived from the Greek word "kapto" (κάπτω), meaning “to bite,” in reference to the pungency of the peppers.
In botanical naming conventions, the person who first formally describes and classifies a species or genus often gets their name abbreviated as an initial after the scientific name. That’s why you may see Capsicum L.—the “L.” stands for Linnaeus, indicating that he was the first to describe the genus.
Linnaean classification Chart for Capsicum
In modern terms..
Since the 1700s, scientists have developed a more modern approach to classification in taxonomy, known as the phylogenetic system of classification. This system focuses on shared ancestry and is built using molecular and genetic data.
Phylogenetic system of classification for Capsicum
Sources
1. Biology Notes Online. (n.d.). What is plant taxonomy? Identification, classification, and nomenclature. https://biologynotesonline.com/what-is-plant-taxonomy-identification-classification-and-nomenclature/
2. Knapp, S., Vorontsova, M. S., & Prohens, J. (2022). Capsicum phylogeny and the wild relatives of pepper (Capsicum L.). PhytoKeys, 199, 85–118. https://phytokeys.pensoft.net/article/71667/element/4/479//
3. Manzanilla, V., Hill, T., Heavens, D., Zawora, C., Van den Broeck, L., Van Deynze, A., & Michelmore, R. (2023). Phylogenomics and molecular markers resolve the taxonomy of the Capsicum pubescens complex (Solanaceae). Frontiers in Plant Science, 14, 9881532. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9881532/
