Capsicum eximium

Capsicum eximium is a wild Andean pepper first published by Hunziker in 1950. It is one of the peppers known in Bolivia as ulupica, and the fruit are eaten there as a spice and also used in pickles. Modern sources place it in Bolivia, with a wider range extending into north-western Argentina, and Bolivian field and food-use records specifically document it from places such as Chuquisaca, Amboró, Vallegrande, and Comarapa.

The plant is a woody, much-branched shrub, commonly up to about 1.5 to 3.0 m tall, though some descriptions note it can grow taller. The leaves are green, usually ovate with an acute tip, and published descriptions place them at about 2.5 to 5.5 cm long by 1.5 to 3.0 cm wide, with some broader lance-shaped leaves also occurring. Pubescence is variable across the plant, but eximium is consistently separated from Capsicum eshbaughii by its non-glandular pubescence and its calyx with five teeth.

The flowers are one of the main identifying features. They are produced in groups of 2 to 4 per node on thin, short, non-geniculate stalks about 10 to 20 mm long. The corolla is stellate and may be whitish or purple, usually with green to yellowish-brown spotting in the inner throat, and the anthers are yellow to grey. This purple or pale flower colour variation is a recognised part of the species rather than a separate identity.

The fruit are small, round berries, usually about 5 to 8 mm across, borne erect or in an intermediate position. They start green and ripen dark red, with soft flesh and relatively few brownish to brown seeds, often about 4 to 5 seeds per fruit in field descriptions. The fruit are widely described as very hot to hot, and this pungent small red berry is the feature most closely tied to its culinary use as ulupica in Bolivia.