Mother of all Peppers

When I was in Professor Marshall Johnston’s Native Plants of Texas class in 1975, I learned of Capsicum Texanum which I had known many years earlier as Chili Piquin. It has other common names, of course. It is common to South and Central Texas. It is most often a volunteer in our lawns and gardens – seeded by birds that experience no ill effect from its high concentration of capsaicin – the alkaloid that gives peppers their heat.

We have lived in our current home for at least 40 years, and we have almost always had volunteers of this pepper show up on our property often along our backyard fence line where birds light and relieve themselves. We long ago learned to enjoy the fruits when making Texas chili or meat sauce for pasta. We would refer to our dishes as 3, 4, 5, or 6 pepper dishes.

I recently had our lawn service clean up our flower beds, install a weed barrier, and apply a layer of mulch. Alas, in their exuberant effort to satisfy my request, they removed my backyard chili piquin plant and most of my Passiflora cerulea vines. Sigh.

Earlier this week, Susan and I visited our favorite nursery in search of replacement plants. I asked for chili piquin, and I was directed to the area where shade-loving plants are kept. Once there, I asked one of the staff for chili piquin. He found the plant and handed it to me. “It’s the Mother of All Peppers,” he smiled. I returned his smile commenting that the birds often gifted them to us.

Tonight, I was looking into this plant and its relationship to other New World peppers. I discovered that it is a variety of Capsicum Annuum – the prototypical New World pepper of South and Central America. The Texas variety is genetically very close to its progenitor, it seems. Most of the New World peppers, are descendants of C. annuum – bell peppers, Poblanos, Jalapenos, Serranos, and even the murderously hot Habaneros.

For the record, this new plant is an emergency back-up plant. Last fall, the birds planted a chili piquin among a stand of Yellow Bells (Esperanza) in our front yard, and it survived our worst Winter storm. It has hundreds of blossoms and emerging peppers.

I hope that the birds share in the bounty.