Capsicum ceratocalyx

Capsicum ceratocalyx is a wild Bolivian species first published by Michael Nee in 2006 in Brittonia. It is an accepted species with a native range in western central Bolivia, and the known collections are from the La Paz region, especially Nor Yungas and Sud Yungas, where it occurs in moist montane cloud and mist forest at about 1700 to 2300 m elevation.

It grows as an erect shrub about 1.5 to 2 m tall. The young stems are finely hairy while older stems become nearly glabrous, and the plant bears paired leaves of unequal size, with the smaller leaf usually much reduced but of similar shape. The leaves are elliptic to narrowly lanceolate, long-pointed, and carried on relatively short petioles in the flowering parts of the plant. Inflorescences are clustered in the leaf axils and commonly carry 6 to 9 flowers, though usually only a smaller number of fruit mature.

The most distinctive feature of Capsicum ceratocalyx is its floral structure. It is characterised by conspicuously ribbed, winged pedicels and a cup-shaped calyx with five curved, laterally flattened appendages that look almost horn-like, which is reflected in the species name. The corolla is yellow with darker green spotting inside, about 6 mm long and around 5 mm across, giving the flowers a very unusual look among wild Capsicum species from Bolivia.

The fruit are small, upright, juicy berries about 1 cm across that ripen red. They are treated as non-pungent, with smooth pale yellow seeds, and the fruiting calyx encloses the narrowed base of the berry. The combination of yellow spotted flowers, horn-like calyx appendages, ribbed winged pedicels, erect red berries, and its restricted Yungas distribution gives Capsicum ceratocalyx a very distinct identity within the wild Bolivian capsicums.