Capsicum tovarii

Capsicum tovarii is a wild Peruvian species formally published in 1983 from material collected in the Mantaro River basin of Huancavelica and Ayacucho in central Peru. The oldest documented specimen cited for the species was collected on 14 April 1954 near Huaya between Colcabamba and Surcubamba at 2000 to 2200 m. Before the formal description, the name appeared in earlier literature as C. tovari, but that earlier usage was not validly published with a diagnosis, and the correct spelling was fixed as tovarii. Common names recorded for the species include ají silvestre, Mukúru, and Mucuru-uchu.

It is a perennial suffrutescent shrub, usually up to 1 m tall, with diffuse to clambering stems and sympodial branching. The leaves are deciduous, alternate, and ovate-lanceolate, about 3.5 to 8.5 cm long and 1.5 to 4 cm wide, with darker green upper surfaces and paler to greenish-grey undersides. Flowers are borne in axillary compound dichasia on 1 to 2 cm pedicels. The calyx is cup-like with five variable teeth, and the corolla is small and campanulate, usually purple and cream or entirely cream, marked with two green spots at the base of each lobe. The original description also noted variation in flower colour from violet to cream and in pubescence from glabrous to weakly pubescent plants.

The fruit is a small pungent globose berry, about 4.4 to 7.6 mm long and 4.2 to 7.3 mm wide. It begins green, darkens to nearly black while still immature, and ripens bright red. Seeds are cream-coloured, about 3.5 to 4.5 mm long, and the fruits usually contain 4 to 12 seeds. Capsicum tovarii is collected locally and used as a spice. In habitat it is associated with the low montane xerophytic zone of the Río Mantaro basin, including areas with columnar cacti and Bombax ruizii. One of the most distinctive biological notes attached to the species is its unusual breeding behaviour, with some individuals observed functioning only as male or female at a given time while others are functionally bisexual.