What they are

These are the wild peppers of the annuum family. Same species as bell peppers and jalapeños, just never tamed. They grow wild from the southern US down through Mexico and Central America and into northern South America, mostly along fence rows and under trees where birds drop the seed.

The fruit is tiny, round or slightly oval, and pointed straight up. It's green going to red, and it drops off the plant easily when ripe. Most are very hot for a short burst that fades fast. The plants are bushy and woody, and in warm places they come back year after year.

The naming

You'll see these listed as C. annuum var. glabriusculum. Most growers and seed sellers use that name, and so do some botanical lists.

Kew's Plants of the World Online puts them under a different name. Kew accepts C. annuum var. aviculare and lists glabriusculum as a synonym of it. Older names you may run into, such as var. minimum, var. minus and C. minimum, are also synonyms on Kew.

They're the same group of plants under different names. WikiPepper files them as a subcategory of annuum. Kew's accepted name is var. aviculare, and glabriusculum is the one you'll see most often.

Growing notes

  • Seed is slow and stubborn. Germination can take weeks. Growers often soak the seed or rough it up a little first, and keep it warm.
  • Give it time. First-year plants can be slow to fruit. Older plants get much bigger and bear heavily.
  • Partial shade is fine. In the wild they grow under trees, and many growers say they do better without full afternoon sun in hot climates.
  • Pick often. Ripe pods drop or get eaten by birds quickly.
  • Overwinter them. They're perennial and handle pruning and pots well.

The name confusion

Common names don't settle what a pepper is. "Bird pepper" gets used for wild annuums, but also for small upright C. frutescens types and for other small hot peppers from all over the world. "Chiltepin" and "pequin" also get applied loosely. Some people use them for the round wild type and some for the oval one, and some for cultivated strains sold under the same name.

So when two peppers share a name, they aren't necessarily the same pepper. Check the species and the description on each pepper's page.