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Capsicum L. (tribe Capsiceae, Solanaceae) is an American genus distributed ranging from the southern United States of America to central Argentina and Brazil. The genus includes chili peppers, bell peppers, ajíes, habaneros, jalapeños, ulupicas and pimientos, well known for their economic importance around the globe. Within the Solanaceae, the genus can be recognised by its shrubby habit, actinomorphic flowers, distinctive truncate calyx with or without appendages, anthers opening by longitudinal slits, nectaries at the base of the ovary and the variously coloured and usually pungent fruits. The highest diversity of this genus is located along the northern and central Andes. Although Capsicum has been extensively studied and great advances have been made in the understanding of its taxonomy and the relationships amongst species, there is no monographic treatment of the genus as a whole. Based on morphological and molecular evidence studied from field and herbarium specimens, we present here a comprehensive taxonomic treatment for the genus, including updated information about morphology, anatomy, karyology, phylogeny and distribution. We recognise 43 species and five varieties, including C. mirum Barboza, sp. nov. from São Paulo State, Brazil and a new combination C. muticum (Sendtn.) Barboza, comb. nov.; five of these taxa are cultivated worldwide (C. annuum L. var. annuum, C. baccatum L. var. pendulum (Willd.) Eshbaugh, C. baccatum L. var. umbilicatum (Vell.) Hunz. & Barboza, C. chinense Jacq. and C. frutescens L.). Nomenclatural revision of the 265 names attributed to chili peppers resulted in 89 new lectotypifications and five new neotypifications. Identification keys and detailed descriptions, maps and illustrations for all taxa are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capsicum regale Barboza & Bohs, sp. nov., a new species from the tropical wet forests of the eastern Andean slopes (Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru) is described and illustrated. This new species belongs to the Andean clade (all species 2n = 26) of Capsicum and is similar to C. longifolium Barboza & S.Leiva in its glabrescence, calyx morphology, and corolla and seed color but differs in its membranous and elliptic leaves, fleshy calyces, deeper stellate corollas, longer filaments, longer and purple fruiting pedicels, purple berries, and larger seeds. Its chromosome number was counted (2n = 26), a preliminary assessment of conservation status is given and discussed, and an updated identification key to the species of the Andean clade is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims Capsicum (Solanaceae), native to the tropical and temperate Americas, comprises the well-known sweet and hot chili peppers and several wild species. So far, only partial taxonomic and phylogenetic analyses have been done for the genus. Here, the phylogenetic relationships between nearly all taxa of Capsicum were explored to test the monophyly of the genus and to obtain a better knowledge of species relationships, diversification and expansion. Methods Thirty-four of approximately 35 Capsicum species were sampled. Maximum parsimony and Bayesian inference analyses were performed using two plastid markers (matK and psbA-trnH) and one single-copy nuclear gene (waxy). The evolutionary changes of nine key features were reconstructed following the parsimony ancestral states method. Ancestral areas were reconstructed through a Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo analysis. Key Results Capsicum forms a monophyletic clade, with Lycianthes as a sister group, following both phylogenetic approaches. Eleven well-supported clades (four of them monotypic) can be recognized within Capsicum, although some interspecific relationships need further analysis. A few features are useful to characterize different clades (e.g. fruit anatomy, chromosome base number), whereas some others are highly homoplastic (e.g. seed colour). The origin of Capsicum is postulated in an area along the Andes of western to north-western South America. The expansion of the genus has followed a clockwise direction around the Amazon basin, towards central and south-eastern Brazil, then back to western South America, and finally northwards to Central America. Conclusions New insights are provided regarding interspecific relationships, character evolution, and geographical origin and expansion of Capsicum. A clearly distinct early-diverging clade can be distinguished, centred in western-north-western South America. Subsequent rapid speciation has led to the origin of the remaining clades. The diversification of Capsicum has culminated in the origin of the main cultivated species in several regions of South to Central America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considerable confusion exists within Capsicum (Solanaceae) regarding the status and typification of several names, in part due to misidentifications. Some types were destroyed in Berlin during the Second World War, some have not been found by modern systematics, while others exhibit uncertain locality data or contain material from more than one species. Fourteen lectotypes, synonyms, and a new name, Capsicum eshbaughii Barboza nom. nov., are proposed here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]