Capsicum rabenii

Capsicum rabenii is an accepted wild South American species first published by Otto Sendtner in 1846. A major identity point with this pepper is that it was later widely circulated under the name Capsicum praetermissum, but current modern taxonomic treatments place that name in synonymy under Capsicum rabenii. The species belongs to the baccatum clade and is native to eastern and central Brazil, ranging from Bahia south to Rio Grande do Sul and extending into central Paraguay. It grows as a scrambling shrub, and older formal descriptions also describe it as a shrubby plant reaching about 1.5 m tall.

It is especially recognisable for its dense woolly pubescence and its showy flowers. The corolla is about 12 to 15 mm across and is usually lilac to purple, or white to lilac with purple margins, with greenish-yellow spotting. The leaves are green above and paler beneath, and the plant's floral look is one of the traits most consistently used to separate it from close wild relatives.

The fruit is small and borne as a berry, typically globose to subglobose, about 5 to 7.5 mm wide, with a small cup-shaped calyx about 1.5 to 2 mm long. The ripe fruit is red and pungent, and the seeds are pale yellow, usually about 3 to 4.2 mm long, with roughly 7 to 15 seeds per fruit. This gives the species a small-fruited wild look rather than a large-podded cultivated form.

In Brazil it is recorded under cumari-type vernacular names including pimenta cumarí and pimenta-cumari. Modern taxonomic treatment also notes that it is used as a condiment and consumed as pickles and in hot sauces, which fits its long-standing place among small wild Brazilian peppers valued for flavour and heat. The species is also well represented in germplasm collections, showing sustained botanical and horticultural interest over time.